Usine C, Montreal, January 2020

Galerie Michel Guimont, Quebec, March 2021

Galerie Lacerte art contemporain, Montréal, September 2021

The Empire painting series comes from a desire to question the role of power and money in culture, and its impact on people’s lives, on the work of artists. It seems obvious that recent art history can be interpreted as the result of great empires justifying their importance through culture. The artist here explores the historical relationship between art and power, he creates paintings that offer more than a vehicle for the dominant values and which, in the end, speak of freedom.

The figurative paintings being an exploration of his own relationship to art and culture, the artist creates a series of paintings that evoke the notion of Empire, with its effects on populations, but also on art history and current cultural creation. Working in a realistic style from photographic sources, he confronts the realities evoked in the paintings by juxtaposing them, by making them strange, by constructing a poetic arrangement. The subjects are varied, inspired by images taken in spectacular settings that highlight the relationship between art and money (a fashion show or a performance in a large hall).

For the moment, no specific empire in history is targeted by this project, it is theoretically inspired by the book Empire (2000) by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt. These propose a historic paradigm shift between ‘modern’ imperialism based on nation-states and an emerging post-modernism created by capitalist ruling classes and basing its authority on military force and international legal creations ( UN, NATO, IMF, etc). Inspired by the writings of Gilles Deleuze and Michel Foucault, the authors theorize an Empire thought of as an “arrangement”, a totalizing mechanism against which the only possible resistance of the “multitude” is negation.

Arrived in Canada at a very young age and raised in a highly politicized family, the artist has always been aware of the effects of power and its relationship to industry and international trade. Coming from Chile, a country that was caught in the tensions of the Cold War in the 60s and 70s, with a violent dictatorship and multinationals fighting for control of natural resources (mainly mining), the story of its family was caught up in this cycle and migrated to Canada.

Very saddened to hear the news of Michel Guimont’s passing. Michel was in my life for a very short time. My last exhibition in Quebec City was in his gallery, and I was treated wonderfully there. I felt his immense support, generosity, and curiosity. It was in March 2021, in the middle of the pandemic, and despite the problems it caused, it went really well. It had a dynamic effect on my relationship with my practice and my life in general, and I will be eternally grateful to him. My thoughts go out to his family, his partner, and all his friends. Thank you, Michel.