Mathieu Laca


Mathieu Laca discovered painting at the age of 17, thanks to the decisive meeting of two teachers from his secondary school who gave him the means to express himself. He fashioned gnarled and tortured characters, reflecting the torments of his adolescence, which he brushed with broad strokes of charcoal, black ink or even by sculpting metal wires. His works were presented in a first solo exhibition at the Maison des Arts de Laval and marked the first year of his artistic vocation.


He continued his studies in plastic arts at Cégep and in visual arts at Concordia University. After graduating, he distanced himself from the minimalist aesthetic of his peers in order to forge a more personal, baroque and provocative style, oriented towards the male nude. A face of the Montreal gay press, he exhibited mainly in galleries in Ottawa and Montreal, until portraiture became central to his practice.


“I like to paint portraits of writers, artists, philosophers, musicians and historical figures who have marked me. I try to translate their psyche, their work, by the boldness of the impastos, the fulgurance of the splashes. I like my portraits to be homages flirting dangerously with aggression, straddling resemblance and disfiguration. I want the spectator to be caught up in a presence that is impossible to ignore, to be rooted to the spot, seized by the monstrous reality that a gaze can contain. Because everything is played in a face. A whole life is mapped there. Each wrinkle, each palpitation of expression carries within it the trace of this life. Each leap of flesh marks the secret passage of regrets, of silenced words, of forgotten errors and others forgiven, of aborted desires and languid dreams. »


Since his infatuation with the textured portrait, the popular success of Mathieu Laca's paintings has continued to grow. He exhibited in Toronto in the gigantic space of the Thompson Landry Gallery. Among others, the writer and playwright Michel Tremblay, the actor and animator Marc Labrèche as well as the American actor Josh Brolin collect his paintings. His works appear in many collections in China, Australia, in all European countries as well as in the United States. In order to consecrate his double interest for painting and literature, Mathieu will publish in February a first novel with Leméac editions whose story is that, you guessed it… of a portrait painter.


  • Light on the artist's work

    The urgency to create

    LA PRESSE, by Éric Clément | August 10, 2022


    His portraits sell like hotcakes all over the world. They are sometimes chosen for the cover of books, notably in Canada, Germany, Belgium and Argentina. The Laval painter Mathieu Laca, who is exhibiting this summer in six locations in Quebec and Ontario, has been leading his career thanks to the Internet and a few galleries for 23 years. La Presse met the artist in his studio.

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    The importance of school

    If Mathieu Laca, 40 years old, became a painter, he owes it to two high school teachers. His French teacher, Jean Comeau, who took him under his wing when he needed it most, and Rachel Villeneuve, his art teacher. He was 17 years old and studying at Curé-Antoine-Labelle school in Laval. A brilliant participant in Génies en herbe, he had taken refuge in literature and could have become an astronaut. But once I discovered art, I realized that I didn't need to type out math scores anymore," he says. I went on to do a DEC in fine arts at Lionel-Groulx, in Sainte-Thérèse, and then a bachelor's degree in visual arts at Concordia."


    Big year 2022 for Mathieu Laca with participations in four collective exhibitions in Quebec. An exhibition of large formats, XL5, at the Maison de la culture du Plateau-Mont-Royal, until August 14. With his painting committed to the Ukraine, because he was very disturbed by the Russian invasion and the controversial statements of the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on homosexuality. "The proceeds from the sale of this painting will be donated to a Ukrainian organization," he says.


    It's part of the Battements exhibit at the Centre national d'exposition in Jonquière until August 21. As well as Collectif 2, at the TNT gallery in Quebec City, until September 2, and another exhibition at the Salon Art Club gallery in Montreal, at the moment. Not to mention that several of his paintings are on display at the Thompson Landry Gallery in Toronto and at the Orange Art Gallery in Ottawa. "Present at the same time in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Jonquière, I reap what I sow," he says.


    Writer

    Having always loved to read and write - as a young man, he thought he would study arts and letters - Mathieu Laca is realizing a dream. Next winter, he will publish his first novel, L'invention d'un visage. A work planned with the precious help of the writer Jean Barbe. I'm still pinching myself because I don't realize that I managed to write it," he says. It's about painting and an unusual phenomenon called prosopagnosia, the difficulty or inability to recognize a face. Mathieu Laca made a painting to represent a portrait that is mentioned in his novel. The portrait will be on the cover of the book.


    The work created for The Invention of a Face.

    The containment was positive for him because he wrote and sold a lot of work during the pandemic. "I sold 60 paintings in one year, mostly old works, thanks to my website. My basement has cleared up! Now I'm living on this hoard." Mathieu Laca's works range in price from $2,000 to $20,000. He has collectors all over the world. Some of them regularly buy works from him. His clients include actor Josh Brolin, writers Colin Broderick and Michel Tremblay, and humorist Marc Labrèche.


    His studio

    Mathieu Laca's studio is on the first floor of his Laval home. He works there five days a week, from 9 am to 5 pm. But lately, I write in the morning and paint in the afternoon," he says. I've been painting for over 20 years. I think I'm having more fun than when I started. The more experience you have, the easier the ideas come. You make a touch and you know what it looks like. I've never gone long periods without painting, so this continuity feeds me. So this continuity feeds me.


    For some time, Mathieu Laca has been using charcoal again. We have seen several in his studio, including drawings by his husband, Jean. His studies and preparations for paintings are delicate, expressive drawings. I love to search the surface, accumulate strokes, degrade the light and release volumes to reveal faces," he writes in his newsletter. A charcoal stick is just a burnt wood twig. But what you can get out of it in terms of nuance blows me away! And I find the sobriety of black and white absolutely sumptuous."

  • Curriculum of life


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