The Galerie Lounge TD is glad to present the works by artist Armand Vaillancourt, a leading figure in contemporary Quebec art, a colourful and dramatic personality and living legend who, 50 years into his career, remains an innovator in both technique and aesthetic.

This is not Armand Vaillancourt’s first collaboration with the Festival. He previously contributed La révolution du cœur, which he had painted for the Festival and which was produced as its 2008 official silkscreen, as well as the magnificent living mural, Grande murale de jazz, which he created with the public every evening during the 29th edition of the Festival!

This exhibition offers ample testament to the freshness and dynamism of the vivid youthfulness that enlivens Armand Vaillancourt. It assembles some forty works from the past two years—acrylic paintings on canvas and paper, but also inks and pastels on paper—as well as four sculptures in bronze, most of them just as recent. Furthermore, we’ll have the opportunity to discover two sculptures in steel and aluminum, models for futures monumental public sculptures. Visitors will also discover some fifteen silkscreens, most of them created since the turn of the millennium, including two created especially for this exhibition from previously unseen works on paper.

Armand Vaillancourt is a colourful dramatic personality and a living legend who remains an innovator in both technique and aesthetic. At 82 years young, Vaillancourt continues to give free rein to his profound, dazzling energy and inexhaustible creativity. Now considered a pioneer in Quebec’s artistic affirmation, he has been shattering standards of conformity since the early ‘50s. Exploring techniques and materials like no other artist, he has opened the way to modernity. Fiercely engaged in social, cultural and environmental issues, he uses his art as a weapon, a tool for protest and raising consciousness, as well as being a pioneer in taking art to the streets. He produces monumental sculptures and impressive pictorial works.

Armand Vaillancourt was born in Black Lake, Quebec, on September 3, 1929 and studied at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal (1951-1955). His works can be found throughout Canada and the U.S. and in the finest public, private and museum collections. He has received a number of distinctions, including the prestigious Prix Paul-Émile-Borduas in 1993. In 2004, he was given the title of Chevalier of the Ordre national du Québec.