OEUVRE AU BLANC
(oeuvre au blanc, term taken from alchemy, describles the purification step of matter in the alchemical process, the removal of the superfluous, the possibility of renewal in a higher level of conscoiusness.)

This exhibition presents at the same time charcoal drawings and polaroid photos from the artist's recent production.
In the drawings the substraction technique is mostly used: the sheet of paper is initially darkened with charcoal, and shapes, volumes, light are revealed by the stroke of the eraser. Landscapes reconstructed from memories of specific sites, they also play as portraits of the soul's climactic fluctuations : loss, confusion, despair, frustration, longing, desire, fear but also love and hope.
The "allegorical nudes" speak of certain aspects of human nature as well as explore, through a symbolic and oniric imagerie, themes like the cycle of life and death, rebirth, the mystery and magic of existence and Man; the universe's constant transformation and of one's self in the latter.
The same themes are also present in this series of polaroids. The dark-light opposition is dominant. It is also an autobiography of a stroll through life and as well as its fringes. Light and shadow, and the comfort both elements bring. The duality expressend in the drawings is echoed here as well.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Bruno Leydet was born in Quebec to a French father and a Quebecois mother; he passed his childhood and adolescence in Montreal; D.E.C in Plastic Arts at the Cégep du Vieux Montréal (1987-1989), then licence in Fine Arts at Concordia University in Montreal (1989-1991, painting, drawing, print, cinematography). Masters of Fine Arts at New York University (1991-1993 painting, drawing, experimental video). Return to Montreal in 1996 and leaves for Paris at the end of 2000 group show at the N.Y.U University Gallery in 1993 and video projection of "Tacky Greek Movie" at New York, in Canada and in Mexico.

FOR MORE INFO
go to the artist's website at
www.artmajeur.com/artbrunoleydet

Exhibition Dates:
21 - 30 June 2007