Aujeault (OJO)

"From a misguided arm, too cylindrical; Ugliness oozes from me; As if it were my enemy; A covered gaze; A single multiple gesture, too quickly; The painter is born; The painting is dead." – OJO
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Biography

Since the beginning of his youth, ojo has been attracted by the various modes of artistic expression to which he has access; as a young teenager, his voice is heard through theatrical practice, until picking up a guitar for the first time succinctly, which would lead to four professional albums to date.

Between these different modes of speech, his thought also develops through film production, for which he obtained a college diploma, and illustration. Quite rapidly, the prism of his ideas will focus more closely on drawing; what will lead towards painting by accident. Indeed, with the useless hand (the right) he will make a first painting in a living gesture and a desire to enlarge the limits of the page. By perusing from painting to painting, his gaze becomes more refined in a completely singular and honest discussion; the shapes are deviated from their useful meanings and the colours are aligned in disordered ways, as if the artist wanted to translate an era going too fast in a world where the beautiful too often rubs shoulders with the ultra-repugnant.

Underlined of titles with themes that are often derisory and raw, ojo’s pieces are intended to be a celebration of the idea caught in flight, of imperfect work, of the honesty of the failed gesture, of colour for colour, and of the art for art’s sake.

Artist’s statement

ojo approaches art the same way one can approach a meditative session or a walk in the woods; in an instinctive manner, evolving to the rhythm of the path he is creating, each step being the most important one. The works that appear as results of his work are incarnations of emotions, of internal truths. Although he uses bright and electric colours well written in the imagery of his era, the artist paints timeless and fragmented narratives that are deprived of beginnings, in which questions arise and there is no desire to offer answers.

In a singular mess halfway between figurative and abstraction, the artist sets the pillars of his practice on forms rather than on semantics. Some of his images are rooted from events more or less close to his life, others come from more distant places and are not always easy to explain. In a sense, there is more space when everything is left unsaid. The spectator is asked here to be his own creator of meaning.

For ojo, art is the motley character of the city’s textures; it is the error; it is the inside; the inexplicable brushstroke; the anger that underlies the urge to run; a tree growing through a fence; the chaos of a rainstorm and the calm that reigns at the same time in a different place; it’s jazz ; that’s the feeling. Speaking of jazz, the eyes of the person looking work to the jerky, plural rhythms of the lines that spread out like random notes into infinity. A pursuit of intentional errors that form a singular weft.

C.V.

Awards and mentions

2019Winner of a nine-month artistic creation residency at the Calixa-Lavallée arts center – Montreal

Galleries and representation (selected)

2020 to presentGalerie Bloom – Montréal
2019 to presentGalerie du Vieux St-Jean – Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

Solo Exhibitions

2019Solo exhibition at the gallery of the Calixa-Lavallée arts center (Montreal)
2016First independent exhibition in the Van Horne workshops (working studio of Mike Pelland)
2016First public exhibition at Café Névé, Montréal

Recent professional achievements

2020Collaboration with the Plateau Mont-Royal borough as part of an exhibition of works of art on compost bins – production a.t.s.a et c.a.b.o. (Ville de Montréal)
2020Artwork placed and sold online at quarantine auction (Les Encans de la Quarantaine)
2020Production and creation of a mural related to the project – Ruelle Verte dans la petite patrie (production Ville de Montréal)
2018Creation of visual identity for the Resonance festival – painting/collage (production Magnéto balado)
2018Creation of album cover visual for the group zouz – sheet metal painting (production disques Lazy at work)
2018Creation of public installations painted for the festival Mode & Design – acrylic / solidified oils / aerosol cans on wooden structure (co-production Pestacle and Mode & design)
2018Design and production of a floor fresco for the music festival Santa Teresa – latex/spray paint on two hundred meters of street (co-production Pestacleand Santa Teresa)
2018Creation of album cover visual for the group Duu – Indian ink / art workshop with a class of children at primary school level (independent production)
2017Design and creation of an “exploded” piano for the opening show of the CHUM – spray cans on the shell of a grand piano (independent production)
2017Design and production of a structure containing a scale sky map for the program Alt on Vrak Tv – acrylic / water color / canvas / on wooden structure (KO Tv production)
2017Creation of visual identity for the album Hochelaga of the group Nicolet – water-based paint on black panels (disc production Chivi Chivi )
2017Design and production of a cartoon for the group Nicolet – solidified oils on animation paper / digital post production (disc production Chivi Chivi)
2017Creation of a giant handheld game visual, public installation for the Mile ex End festival – aerosol cans on a wooden structure (co-production Pestacle and Mile ex End)
2017Image design for Urbania digital media – mixed media (Urbania production)
2017Design and production of an “exploded” carpet for the Ephemeral Cabinet, Rockland shopping center – aerosol cans on carpet (co-production Harrison Fun and The Association of Quebec Fashion Designers)
2016Canvases recorded on the set of the show Alt at Vrak Tv (production KO Tv)
2016Image design for Urbania digital media – mixed media (Urbania production)

Group exhibitions

2017Paintings exhibited at Art gang plaza, Montreal (curator; Jessye Thomas) – mixed media
2016Invited by the founders of the contemporary arts gallery Gham et Dafe (Montreal) to create a work under the theme. Guest artists exhibited the pieces in the gallery. (July)

Press

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208, Richelieu St., Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu (Quebec) J3B 6X8
Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Thursday and Friday 11:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
450-741-3939
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