| Mathieu Laca - paintings |
Oil Spill, oil on linen. 153cm X 122cm, 2010, SOLD
| Patrick John Mills: Dear Mathieu, I had a client visit the gallery this
afternoon. He had some questions about one of your painting titled “Oil
Spill”. Why did you use the pelican, rabbit and rooster?
Mathieu Laca: I painted a pelican for the obvious reason that this
animal is closely associated with oil spills in the medias. We saw a
lot of pelicans getting stuck in oil during the recent Deepwater Horizon
catastrophe. It’s the animal that embodies best the role of the
victim in our psyche. During the Middle Age, it used to be a symbol
of the Christ because people thought that pelicans fed their babies
with their own flesh. What I did in this painting is that I inverted
our relationship to animals. Instead of being passive creatures, animals
take control and inflict their mechanisms of control to human figures.
In addition to the pelican, which is a wild animal, I chose to represent
a rabbit and a rooster because they are very familiar farm animals that
are intensely exploited by humans. ML: The animals have human bodies for the very ground-to-earth reason
that I wanted them to perform human actions such as putting gas in someone’s
mouth. Even with a lot of imagination, it’s very hard to depict
a realistic pelican doing that! In addition to that, I like to paint
the male nude very much. I wanted the rabbit and the rooster to acquire
a sort of menacing aspect and to recover their wildness. That’s
why I chose to represent them bearing a human figure as their prey. ML: The figure in this painting had to be totally passive and controlled
and erections are still perceived as dominance. ML: Conformism, the economy, the pressure on the environment. What
leads to oil spills. ML: All of us. I hope. He’s the central figure, the one I want
us to identify with so we can rethink our relationship to animals and
the impact we have on them. I would like, through shock sometimes, that
people realize that humans are not at all separate from any other animal
species. We must still learn to live together. ML: I had great joy painting the sky. I tried to paint it with meanderings
such as the Greco. It’s as if the sky reflects suddenly all the
inner turmoil of the character lying down. As for the moon or the sun
(I didn’t choose to decide which it was), it’s mainly to punctuate
the surface and give more nobility to the rooster underneath. ML: I splash vivid colors over my paintings to break the representation, to make it come out of its predictable nature, to incorporate spontaneity and randomness. A painting must have its own rules and I should be open enough to discover and accept them. I like to think that a painting whispers to me the directions of its making. I paint on linen because it’s much more stable and resistant than
cotton canvas. I also like its color and the fact that it makes me relate
to the tradition of painting. The downside to it is that it’s much
more expensive than cotton and that I must make it come from Belgium.
For me, there’s a great deal of craft in painting that one must
master. That’s why I also grind my own colors. Painting is an intuitive
and complex science that builds over time. |
| YouTube Interviews with Mathieu Laca: |
| Artist Mathieu Laca (Self Portrait - 2012) - Interviewed by Patrick John Mills (Self Portrait) |
Mathieu Laca interviewed by Patrick John Mills Contemporary Fine Art Gallery
Ein Abend mit Dr. Freud / An Evening with Dr. Freud / Une soirée avec le Dr.Freud.
huile sur lin / oil on linen, 151cmX92cm, 2011, Price: $2600
Mathieu Laca (Artist) interviewed by Patrick John Mills - An Evening with Sigmund Freud
Infamous, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 183cmX122cm, 2011, 3200$
Mathieu Laca (Artist) interviewed by Patrick John Mills Gallery - Why do you paint the Penis?
The Boudoir, Oil on linen, 212cm X 125cm ,2011. Price: $3400
Le prophète / The Prophet, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 151cm X 92cm, 2011. Price: 2600$
Altérité / Otherness, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 133cmX84cm, 2011. Price: $1800
Ottawa, huile sur lin / oil on linen, cadre doré à la feuille / gold leafframe, 163cmX114cm, 2011, Price: $3200
Chien suspendu / Suspended Dog, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 98cmX90cm,2011, Price: $1800
A.Y. Jackson, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 47cmX36cm, 2011, 500$
Croque-mitaine / Bogeyman, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 98cmX60cm, 2011,1600$
Salvador Dali, huile sur lin/oil on linen, 77cmX62cm, 2011, Collectionprivée / Private collection SOLD
The Tea Party, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 183cmX123cm, 2011, 3400$
Paul-Émile Borduas, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 56cmX46cm, 2011, 600$
Title Colibri (Hummingbird) SOLD
From the series
Year 2007
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin marouflée (Linen mounted on wood panel)
Ground Colle de peau (Rabbit skin glue)
Other materials Machette (Machete)
Height 30,5 cm.
Width 76 cm.
Depth 3,2 cm.
Title Corbeau (Crow)
From the series Oiseaux-matériaux
Year 2008
Medium Huile et encaustique (oil and encaustic)
Support Toile de lin marouflée (linen canvas mounted on wood)
Ground Colle de peau (rabbit skin glue)
Other materials Applique de bois (wood ornament)
Varnish Damar
Height 60,5 cm.
Width 92 cm.
Price 1 200$
Chasse à l'Homme / Manhunt, huile sur lin / oil on linen, 170cmX233cm, 2010, 4500$
Title Les baigneurs (The bathers)
From the series
Year 2008
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Other materials
Varnish Damar
Height 214 cm.
Width 244 cm.
Price 6000$
;
Title Razzia (Raid)
From the series Parade sauvage
Year 2009
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 121 cm.
Width 121 cm.
Price 2400$
Title Himmel
From the series Parade sauvage
Year 2009
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Diameter 138 cm.
Price 2600$
Title Conversion de Paul (Paul’s conversion)
From the series Parade sauvage
Year 2009
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 153 cm.
Width 122 cm.
Price 2600$
Title Hallali
From the series Parade sauvage
Year 2009
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 232 cm.
Width 294 cm.
Price 7 800$
Title Der Hof der Wunder
From the series Parade sauvage
Year 2009
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 224 cm.
Width 194 cm.
Price 5 000$
Title Ulysse
From the series Parade sauvage
Year 2009
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 257 cm.
Width 230 cm.
Price 6 700$
Title Salomé
From the series Parade sauvage
Year 2009
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 230 cm.
Width 287 cm.
Price 7 500$
Title Éminence - SOLD
From the series Chasse à l’Homme
Year 2010
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 99 cm.
Width 62 cm.
Title Maître Renard (Master Fox)
From the series Chasse à l’Homme
Year 2010
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Height 62 cm.
Width 51 cm.
Price 700$
Title Nonne II (Nun II)
From the series Chasse à l’Homme
Year 2010
Medium Huile (oil)
Support Toile de lin (linen canvas)
Ground Gesso acrylique (acrylic gesso)
Diameter 62 cm.
Price 1000$
Some paintings on display for LOVE exhibition. Feb 2011.
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Mathieu Laca - Artist Statement My painting comes out of an inner necessity. It |
Mathieu Laca being interviewed - CBC News
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Résumé Mathieu Laca
Solo Exhibitions
Public and Corporate Collections
Events and Professional Works
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Canada's GLBT Magazine - OUT LOOKS
Featuring Artist - Mathieu Laca.
Canada's GLBT Magazine - OUT LOOKS (click here for link to larger image)
Featuring Artist - Mathieu Laca.
Canada's GLBT Magazine - OUT LOOKS (click here for link to larger image)
Featuring Artist - Mathieu Laca.