September 16-October 4, 2020
Expansive Expressions presents three bodies of works – Painting in Confinement, Silenced Voices, and a collection of clay sculptures.
Painting in Confinement
Painting in Confinement explores the evolution of my work, from late winter to late summer 2020, during COVID-19 confinement. The work moves from a large black and white painting from early March to works in oil on paper, exploring new ideas, a new approach.
Silenced Voices
After the murder of George Floyd by police officers, I found that I needed to confront my privileged life. It became no longer enough to get offended, and then move on with my life. These works on mylar remember voices that have been silenced by violence — because of who they were, because of what they believed. Silenced Voices will be a continuing project.
Clay Sculptures
For a number of years, I’ve worked in clay to create an extensive collection of sculptures, some representational work and many abstract pieces. I will be displaying some of my favourites.
Jacques Descoteaux has had a dual career for over 25 years, as an accountant in industry and as an artist. He works mainly in oil on canvas and acrylic on paper. He works in other media – sculpture, collage, mixed media. He now works full-time on his art and volunteers on the Board of various non-profit organizations.
He has studied with many artists and has been granted art residencies in 2015 and 2019 in Co. Kerry, Ireland.
His paintings are first inspired by the landscape of the North – Northern Canada, Northern Europe. His paintings, however, go beyond landscape. They are about memory – the atmosphere, the impression left by a sunrise or sunset or midnight sun, by a night sky, by a brief glance at the clouds or at the sun or the horizon or to the earth or to the sea. They are the imagination of this memory. The viewer remembers places and times – perhaps imagined places, imaginary moments. The landscape we thought we recognized has become more ambiguous, more mysterious.
