Yoakim Bélanger
Yoakim Bélanger was born in Montreal in 1977 into a family of free thinking individuals. He was trained in graphic design at UQAM, and then acquired a great deal of experience in photography, advertising and multimedia, all of which have paved the path for his current artistic endeavor.
"I paint on plates of steel, which was originally an accident, but now a vital part of my artistic process."
The use of oxidized steel, marked by history and time, acts as the backbone to Yoakim's art. The artist enters into a silent discourse with his chosen medium, in order to uncover both his own secrets, and those of a raw metal that has not evaded the marks of time and space. Consequently, the work of art will have started to come to life long before his paint brush meets the cold metal surface. It is only be a matter of time before acrylic paints and inks are worked onto the steel to reveal his artistic vision.
"The steel plate has influenced my painting drastically; it presents itself to me with its history, and all its imperfections. I then encounter the steel plate with my history, and the force of interaction between the two generates a movement which fuels artistic production."
"In this time of excessive consumption, painting on found pieces of metal symbolizes for me a kind of recycling, where the reclaimed metal embodies the interaction between man and his ‘natural’ environment." Y.B. |
