JOSÉE DALLAIRE - Download PDF here

Art and How to Be a Woman

Josée Dallaire is an emerging artist who is becoming recognized in the Montreal milieu and who is imposing her critical view on the hypersexualization of certain feminine archetypes. She is represented by the Mensi & Rioux agency in Montreal. Born in this city, the artist has always been passionate about artistic creation and has devoted herself fulltime to it since the 9/11 events. After this terrible catastrophe, the artist became aware of the frailty of the modern world and she decided to intensely pursue her passion for painting. Since then, Josée Dallaire pursued her artistic training at the Saidye Bronfman School of Fine Art under the direction of well known artists who introduced her to various media and techniques such as image transfer, drawing, painting, and Japanese paper. She has been presenting her work since 2003 in many solo and group show throughout Quebec. In addition, Josée Dallaire has won several prizes and grants including the 'Emerging Artist' prize given by the city of Laval in 2004.

Josée Dallaire's central theme is women. Dismayed by the excessive exploitation of  the image of the woman in mass media as seen in video clips and magazines, the artist decided to gear her production towards a representation where sensuality and seduction are put forth in a more subtle and interiorized manner. In this sense, the faces of her subjects rarely look directly at the viewer and thus preserve some intimacy. Her compositions are collages of different materials. The female figure is often drawn in graphite and depicted in an abstract world created by the layering of different human and animal figures obtained by using the technique of image transfer onto canvas. This composition is supported by the very subtle and nuanced color obtained using relatively neutral and generally transparent Japanese papers mounted on the canvas. For the artist, these papers are ''like skins that we touch and that act like veils because of the layering and their diaphanous effect.''  Dallaire recurrently inserts five geometric figures: the circle, the square, the triangle, the cross, and the spiral. The artist chose these forms after studying the Signs of Life, a book by the anthropologist Angeles Arrien who states that these five figures embody universal symbols at the bias of human psychology for all civilizations and cultures. Consequently, by using these forms, the artist attempts to give a universal context to the understanding of her work and the message that it contains.

Josée Dallaire is an enthusiastic artist who associates artistic creation with the simplest daily acts of her life. In addition, the physical space in which she works often resembles the aesthetic space of her art works.
A powerful feminist, Dallaire offers us her moving view of women in a spirit that tends to transcend prejudices and fads.

By David Gauthier

 
EDUCATION

School of fine art Saidye Bronfman
Visual art center of Montreal
Estrie School of arts
Studios of Louise Lachance-Legault, Pascale Poulin, Ming Ma et Francine Labelle

INDIVIDUAL EXHIBITIONS

2006
  Galerie André Benjamin Papineau,  Laval

COLLECTIVE EXHIBITIONS/ JURY SELECTION

12-2008
  Make-a-Wish foundation, Galerie MX, Montréal
  Art, Encens et Myrrhe, Galerie MX, Montréal

2007
  Complexe culturel St-Laurent, La Prairie
  Expo-concours La Prairie
  Museum of art Mont-St-Hilaire

2006
  Expo-concours La Prairie
  Exposition Promécanic
  "Annuel des arts" at Galerie André Benjamin Papineau
  "Les Femmeuses", Pratt and Whitney Canada

2005
  "Annuel des arts" Galerie André Benjamin Papineau
  Salon des arts visuels of Brossard

2004
  Museum of art Mont-St-Hilaire
  Symposium of Mascouche
  Centre culturel, Baie St-Paul
  "Une époque en art" Saint-Basile-le-Grand
  Festiv'art of Frelighsburg
  Week of visual arts of Mont-Tremblant

2003
  Symposium of Mascouche
  Festiv'art of Frelighsburg

AWARDS

2007
  2nd price Expo-concours La Prairie

2006
  1st price ''Annuel des arts'' André Benjamin Papineau Gallery

2004
  Relieving artist price of Conseil des arts et de la culture de Laval        
  1st price ''Une époque en art'' Saint-Basile-le-Grand
  1st price ''expo-concours arts visuels Roussillon'' St-Constant
  Finalist at national contest of painting, Baie St-Paul

CONFERENCE

2008
  Judge at paintinf festival of Mascouche
  Creative activities, Guatémala

2003-2006
  Creative activities, school St-Gilles, Laval

PUBLICATIONS

2007
  Communic-action, La Prairie
  Le Reflet, La Prairie

2006
  Le Courrier Laval, avril et septembre

2005
  La Presse, Mon toit, novembre
  Guide touristique de la Vallée du Richelieu  2005-2006

2004
  Le Courrier Laval
  Les Versants du Mont-Bruno, St-Bruno
  Magazin'art, été, no 64
  Le Reflet, St-Constant

CORPORATE COLLECTIONS

Promécanic
Festival de peinture de Mascouche
Ville de Saint-Basile-le-Grand

PRIVATE COLLECTIONS

Canada, USA, Belgium