Yoakim Bélanger

Yoakim Bélanger's art focuses on the human form. He is fascinated by movements, expressions, plasticity, and their universality. Across various media (painting, drawing, photography and video Yoakim Bélanger sublimates the physical appearance of humanity and celebrates its strength, passion, and grace. In his paintings, through a work of removal, sanding, and alterations on metal plates, Yoakim Bélanger reaches a vibrant and textured brushwork that merges the abstract and the figurative, order and chaos, shade and light. With this work, the artist achieves his ultimate goal of portraying both body and soul.

Yoakim Bélanger works with oxidized steel and aluminum, raw materials that have not yet been affected by human contact but that hold the traces of passing time. These traces consist of varying textures and patterns, which to any other individual would appear arbitrary and meaningless. But, to the artist, these traces hold the primitive blueprint of his work. With his brush, he begins to bring forth an image so entwined with the medium on which it is painted that one could not exist without the other. The result is a juxtaposition of the intangible human spirit with the solidity of the metal.

Born in 1977, Yoakim Bélanger is a multimedia artist who lives and works in Montreal. His work has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in Canada. In 2016, he exhibited in London to a great critical and popular success. He has also participated in several international fairs worldwide, including Miami, New York, Hamburg, and Toronto. His artwork can be found in many private and public collections throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. He also holds a degree in graphic design and has directed two short films (If I Can Fly and Ces femmes qui marchent) that have been acclaimed by critics in international film festivals. He is represented by galleries in Canada and in the UK.

Submitted by Galerie LeRoyer