Louis-Bernard St-Jean
Artworks
Arboretum
2023
Oil on wood panel, 52 x 43 in.
About this Artwork
An arboretum is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees of various species, usually designed as a landscaped area.
Intended largely for scientific study, arboreta were originally created as a section within a garden, or a larger park for specimens of mainly non-local species.
Today, many modern arboreta are found in botanical gardens as living collections of woody plants.
Louis-Bernard St-Jean
Morphologie des plantes
2020
Oil on wood panel, 22 x 30 in.
About this Artwork
Plant morphology is the part of botany that describes the shape and external structure of plants and their organs. It is distinct from anatomy, which focuses on the internal structure of plants.
The development of this science is linked to that of [biological] systematics, which led to a precise and meticulous description of the different organs of plants, including roots, stems, leaves and flowers, and gave rise to a very rich and very specialized botanical vocabulary.
Indeed, the classification of plants into species, and their practical identification in the field, is based first on morphological criteria; the species, according to a classic definition, being "the set of individuals that resemble each other more than they resemble those of other species".
Louis-Bernard St-Jean
Composition sculpturale rouge
2024
Walnut oil on wood panel, 22 x 30 in.
Les passants
2020
Oil on wood panel, 30 x 40 in.
About this Artwork
Made in early 2020, this painting was among the first on wood panel in this vertical linear style, in which vague shadowy silhouettes can be seen in its composition walking in the background. The shimmering red velvet effect is partly thanks to an “almost excessive” amount of pigment.
The first version on paper of this work, titled Devenir Immortel, was the first to feature this previously unseen style. It was auctioned at the 2018 Artsida auction, in preparation for the Papier art fair the following month, where a dozen bidders competed among themselves in a surreal atmosphere, with the final hammer price was nearly three times its initial estimate.
Polynie
2020
Oil on wood panel, 12 x 16 in.
About this Artwork
A polynya (from Russian "полынья" [polynia]) is an area of open water surrounded by sea ice. This term is now used as a geographical term for an area of unfrozen seawater within an otherwise contiguous pack ice or fast ice shelf. It was borrowed from Russian, which refers to a natural ice hole, and was adopted in the 19th century by polar explorers to describe navigable parts of the sea.
There are two main types of polynyas: coastal polynyas, which are mainly created by strong winds pushing ice away from the coast, and open-ocean or high-ocean polynyas, which can be found more sporadically in the middle of the pack ice in some locations, usually preconditioned by certain dynamics.
Les caps
2019
Oil on wood panel, 30 x 40 in.
About this Artwork
This work was created in late 2019 following a trip to the Magdalen Islands; more precisely to Belle-Anse, on Les Caps, in Fatima.
The distinct light of these islands, the particular colors of its shores, surrounded by its tumultuous waters, and the pied-de-vents that frequently pierce the sky with their beams of light make it a unique place, particularly prized by landscape painters and illustrators.
Première vague
2021
Oil on wood panel, 30 x 40 in.
Rêveries équatoriales
2022
Oil on wood panel, 30 x 40 in.
About this Artwork
In the series of works “Lieux sauvages” (Wild places), created following a trip initially planned to Ecuador, which had to be canceled at the last minute. This painting was finally created from photos, instead of the planned excursions to the Amazon rainforest.
The vertical lines placed at an angle recall the legendary rains of these forests, accentuating the perspective and the sculptural appearance of the painting.
La forêt de l'Abbaye
2021
Oil on wood panel, 11 x 14 in.
Composition sculpturale bleue
2022
Oil on canvas, 34 x 48 in.
About this Artwork
Made in 2022, this painting is actually composed entirely of blue pigments.
The color Prussian Blue, which appears almost black to the eye, is actually translucent; its vertical prismatic texture allows light to reflect off the surface of the canvas, accentuating the luminosity of the lighter pigments.
Cristalline
2022
Oil on wood panel, 48 x 48 in.
Sold
Untitled (blue)
Oil on Arches® paper, 6 x 8 in.
Sold
Hazy L.A.
2023
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 9 x 12 in.
Huế Vietnam
2024
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 9 x 12 in.
Bridgetown Barbados
2023
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 9 x 12 in.
Escale à Barcelone
2024
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 8 x 6 in.
Sold
Escale à Narita
2023
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 8 x 6 in.
Sold
Escale à Holguin
2023
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 8 x 6 in.
Sold
Escale à New York
2023
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 8 x 6 in.
Sold
Escale à Toronto
2024
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 8 x 6 in.
Sold
Sur la plage
2023
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 16 x 20 in.
Sold
Inspirations Laurentiennes
2023
Walnut oil on Arches® paper, 16 x 20 in.
Nouvelle vague
2021
Oil on wood panel, 30 x 40 in.
Le plafond de verre
2021
Oil on wood panel, 57 x 87 in.
About this Artwork
In tribute to the first woman to have held the position of general manager of a pulp and paper mill in Quebec.
The composition of this painting is similar to that of a large broken window, the disproportionate strokes of paint reminiscent of the bark of white birch trees having taken the form of shards of glass.
Another fact, the Belgo building takes its name from the Belgo Canadian Pulp & Paper Company, originally from Brussels whose mill was established in Shawinigan in 1904, and which set up its head office in this building following its construction in 1913.
Première vague
2021
Oil on wood panel, 30 x 40 in.
[untitled]
2021
Oil on wood panel, 36 x 48 in.
[untitled]
2021
Oil on wood panel, 22 x 30 po.
Nevermind
2017
Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in.
About this Artwork
The inspiration for this painting comes from the iconic song Smells Like Teen Spirit by the band Nirvana, whose album Nevermind spawned the grunge movement of the 90s with lyrics that express an existential malaise, reflecting the breakup of the family unit and the difficulty North American teenagers have in envisioning their future.
This album sounds like a cry from the heart, that of a disemboweled, tortured youth—Kurt Cobain’s, in fact—from which emerges an instinctive sense of urgency that strikes a nerve to the depths of the guts, to the point of confusing this pain with our own... No wonder the youth of the time identified with it!
But contrary to popular belief and what Charles Cross implies in his bio-fiction Heavier Than Heaven, the lyrics of Smells Like Teen Spirit are in fact likely meaningless: in interviews throughout the 90s, Kurt Cobain would constantly change and exaggerate the story in an attempt to explain its meaning.
Indeed, the band's drummer Dave Grohl is quoted as saying that he didn't believe the song had any message at all: "To see Kurt write the lyrics of a song five minutes before singing them, you'll find it a bit difficult to believe that the song has a lot to say about something. You need syllables to complete this space or you need something that rhymes."
Burning Down the House
2016
Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in.
About this Artwork
The title was chosen in reference to a song bearing the same name, composed et interpreted by the Talking Heads.
Upon listening to it time and again over the last months (and while making this piece), I kept thinking about the lyrics in how they seemed to resonate with me in a certain way, as if they talked about the challenges and hurdles of being a full-time artist, the insane amount of pressure felt trying to live from our art, of “burning down” a decent career to avoid “bursting into flames”, “listening to ourselves” and “jumping overboard” in a leap of faith to follow our dreams in the hope that we “might get what we’re after…”
Unbeknownst to me at that time, the band’s lead-singer and guitarist David Byrne had once declared in an interview that the lyrics as were in fact completely meaningless, written by first throwing and making nonsense syllables over the music only to fit with the rhythm and the phrasing. In that perspective, one could qualify the text of the song as a form of abstraction, since without direct meaning or representational of any reality!
And so, a parallel can be drawn here with both the song and this piece: with the propensity of the mind to fill in the blanks when confronted to abstract art, each and everyone “sees” something slightly different, interpreting the piece by drawing from their own personal experience as an attempt to find a sort of familiar ground to relate and base itself into.
Magic Carpet Ride
2017
Oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in.
About this Artwork
Part of the 2017 Musical Abstractions solo exhibition and series, this artwork's title was made in reference to the song of the same name by the band Steppenwolf.
While the master recording serves as the official version, it was not the lyrics that were improvised but rather its instrumental part: at each of their performances, the band would then launch into a quasi-psychedelic live jam session, which was all to the credit of the lyrics and its theme.