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Manuel Mathieu, Imaginary Landscape, 2020. Courtesy of the Rozéfort-Racicot Family Collection. -
Manuel Mathieu, ST-Jak 3, 2020. Courtesy of the Rozéfort-Racicot Family Collection. -
Manuel Mathieu, The Entrance, 2019. Collection of Sylvi Plante and Neil Wiener. -
Manuel Mathieu, Untitled, 2020. Courtesy of the artist.
Cheryl Sim on the work of Manuel Mathieu
Transcript
Haiti-born artist Manuel Mathieu describes his process during painting as surrendering to the spell. He explores historical violence, erasure, as well as Haitian visual cultures of physicality, nature, and religious symbolism. There is no hard distinction between abstraction and figuration; instead, they are intricately linked. To enter into these works is to enter into a reckoning with traumas and the scars they leave behind. But they also lead us onto paths and ladders of reflection and possibility swallowed up by moving masses of colour.
About Manuel Mathieu
Informed by his upbringing in Haiti following the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship and his subsequent emigration to Canada at the age of 19, Manuel Mathieu’s art delves into the shared struggles and connections that unite us across national borders. Based in Montreal, Mathieu has had solo exhibitions at PHI, Montreal; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts; The Power Plant, Toronto; Longlati Foundation, Shanghai; K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai, Wuhan, and Shenyang; Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami; and the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea. Mathieu recently received the 2023 Best Short Film Award at the International Festival of Films on Art for Pendulum, which was subsequently presented as a solo exhibition at the 2024 Toronto Biennale of Art; the Pérez Art Museum, Miami; Saint Louis Art Museum; Mackenzie Art Gallery, Regina; and the 61st Venice Biennale. Mathieu holds a Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths, University of London.
Interview with Manual Mathieu
Resources
Artist Website:
https://www.manuelmathieu.com/Artist Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/manuelmathieuRelated Press:
https://www.frieze.com/article/we-are-rebellious-souls-manuel-mathieu-imagines-caribbean-futurehttps://africanah.org/manuel-mathieu-reflections-on-abstract-painting-and-trauma/
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/article-montreal-artist-manuel-mathieu-looks-at-haiti-and-sees-the-world/