Meet the Artists Participating in the Show With Us
Artists works shown on this page will not all be available at the show. If you're interested in any of these works please ask. Some works are available at our gallery in Quebec, others are with the artists, or commissioned pieces can be ordered.
Danny Perkins
Self-taught, multidisciplinary artist and art gallery owner Danny Perkins is above all a great lover of nature and animals. He grew up on his parents' farm where he spent a large part of his life farming. Art came to him through a visceral need to create. His first works were largely inspired by elements found on the farm but with time, he has perfected his art, in a much wider range of inspiration. One of his great pleasures is to take something out of its original context and use it to create something new. Once in his hands, this piece will become a true work of art. His strength lies in using minimalist lines and giving a lightness effect to his pieces even though they are made of raw materials such as iron and wood. He designs almost exclusively all his pieces by hand. For him, it is a way to make them more organic and to make them radiate a beautiful positive energy. Endowed with an immense curiosity and overflowing with an inexhaustible imagination, he pushes his limits as far as possible with each of his works.
Gerardo Labarca
Gerardo Labarca's career is quite atypical for an artist-painter. He worked successfully and brilliantly in the restaurant industry in Montreal (Restaurants Pinxto, Zumaia, Bar et Bœuf and Mezcla), before embarking on the adventure of painting. His momentum in the field of visual art is the fruit of a completely unexpected encounter. ... and from there came new life in him. He is still experimenting with certain media and several horizons are opening up to him! One can feel the joy that emerges through the history of his works. A self-taught portrait painter, Labarca captures the soul and essence of the characters he chooses to bring to life on canvas. Attention to detail and perfection is present while appearing light and carefree... He enjoys illustrating the intensity of the feelings that characterize his subjects, whether they are timeless icons or loved ones. .. Through his works we learn to understand this artist. We feel his joie de vivre, and a certain wonder at his raw talent. The combination of the different techniques he uses is a nod to the many aspects of his magnificent personality.
Mona Ciciovan
Born in 1970, in a small village in Romania, Mona Ciciovan has been drawing and painting
since childhood. After the fall of communism, she crossed the ocean to settle in
Montreal. Mona obtained a minor in visual arts from the University of Montreal and a
Bachelor's degree in visual and media arts from the University of Quebec in Montreal
(UQAM). Mona Ciciovan's work is based on memory: "more precisely on memory
and the perception of the images and places of his life, as explained by the editor
Montrealer Wah Keung Chan. Mona is in search of an aesthetic and in search of
its beauty and harmony. She challenges her own universe by pushing it to
idealization. The color palette blends earth tones and light to produce an orange world with tints of blue, yellow, and green.” Montreal journalist Dorota Kozinska also praises the works of
Mona Ciciovan in the magazine Vie des Arts: "The pleasure of observing the magic of
Ciciovan's urban works is purely aesthetic. It's not even emotional,but rather reflective, a brief glimpse before gently slipping back into memory. […] Ciciovan's roots are Romanian, her creativity universal and her style is unique. » Halfway between the abstract and the figurative, the real and the imaginary, Mona's paintingsgive a metaphorical and poetic meaning to the urban landscape. Her works are characterized by great freedom of execution, improvisation, and spontaneity.
However, balance and structure remain very present: the geometry of verticals and horizontals, the architectural elements, the play of mirrors or double images, or even the effect of a juxtaposition of shots in the same painting, are a constant in her works, whatever the technique used. The color and the light do not only evoke the form, but above all bring out the energy and the
image vibration. These are the words of the teacher and mentor of the artist, the late
Antoine Pentsch, who best described the essence of Ciciovan's work.
Jessica Potenza
Jessica Potenza is a self-taught artist. Her painting technique involves combining acrylic and ink on canvas, linen, or wood panels. Her tendency to use natural pigments began early in her artistic explorations, when the only paint substitutes at her disposal were those found within arms reach while at home or on the road working with horses. These pigments, usually selected to signify either her intentions with each piece or her whereabouts, make the work more personal and meaningful to her. Her current focus is more towards ink techniques and the use of different acrylic mediums.
Horses have had a major influence throughout her life, and their essence has thus inspired the bulk of her work. There is a symmetry between the silent yet unambiguous equine language and what is her best effort at articulating minimalistic but also powerful and expressive lines. Her intention is to expose raw feelings by virtue of her subject and the soul that lies within it, one that is transparent and true. Potenza’s focus throughout these creations lies in that latter, and her hope is that the synthesis of subject, medium and paint strokes have the ability to communicate meaning without use of words.
Joseph-Richard Veilleux
Joseph Richard Veilleux displays phenomenal energy, unbounded generosity, and altruism, contributing to perpetuate the effervescence of the field of visual arts. Displaying an open mind towards creation and appreciative of the powerful forces of renewal borne by emerging modes of expression, his merit has been recognized through his nomination as president of the Royal Canadian Academy of the Arts (RCA) in May of 2015. We should mention that since the Academy’s foundation in 1880, he is the first francophone Quebecer to hold the position. The RCA has a membership of 790 artists working in more than thirty visual arts and designing disciplines. Also of note is the fact that Veilleux has played a critical role as administration of the Canadian Museum of Fine-Arts in Ottawa from 2002 to 2005. Finally, in 2012 he received Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee medal for his implication among his peers and his community.
Joseph-Richard Veilleux is a born explorer of multiple talents. His figures are searching for a passage, seeking a dreamlike perception that will generate in us an indescribable vision. The experience is purely playful and delightful.
Text by Michel Bois, Art Critic
Nadjejda Gilbert
Nadjejda Gilbert lives in Beauce near Quebec City. Her passion for the arts is not new. Already very young, she drew on the walls of her parents' house. Her artistic future became clearer when she obtained her Bachelor's degree in Graphic Communication from Laval University.
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In 2016, after several years as a graphic designer, she began to appear as a painter, thus dividing her life between painting, drawing and graphic design. For her, a creative life is a free life.
In recent years, she has been participated in several exhibitions and art symposiums and produced several special orders honoring Quebec businesspeople. She also has to her work mentioned and prizes obtained during competitions and artistic exhibitions.
For Nadjejda, human nature is an inexhaustible source of creation. In her portraits, she seeks to translate emotion and thoughts through the eyes of the characters. Her paintings are on the verge of fantasy, halfway between realism and abstraction.
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Combining both acrylic paint and the collage technique, the artist creates her works by integrating texts and words on subjects that inspire her. Thus, the texts, which one discovers little by little in the painting, become the reflection of the aspirations and the deep values specific to the human being.
It was in her house in the countryside, accompanied by her family, her cats and her dog, that Nadjejda found the artistic inspiration for a developed creative life.
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Gilbert's works have also been shown in Toronto, Ontario, Miami, Florida and Los Angeles, California during the last year. At the Los Angeles Art Show, her painting Milena was among twenty treasures found at the LA Art Show according to Brooke Harker of EatTravelGo. This painting will also be available at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair (center photo below).
Pierre Chouinard
Pierre Chouinard has been a sculptor for over 50 years. When he creates his magnificent works, he is inspired by the intriguing relationships that exist between man and his environment. In Chouinard’s works, he likes to meld several elements together to create a coherent whole. He takes care to give a unique point of view on each of the facets of his sculptures. Therefore, all angles must be observed to understand the work as a whole. Chouinard works with different mediums, namely wood, stone, and bronze, but bronze particularly attracts him. It will be his bronzes which are available at the Hamptons Fine Art Fair.
Chaka Chikodzi
Chaka Chikodzi is a Zimbabwean-Canadian stone sculptor living, working, and raising a family in Katarokwi/Kingston, Ontario. He works with volcanic rock from Zimbabwe, where he started sculpting as a teenager, and has a studio in Kingston and in Mvurwi, Zimbabwe, where he works with a team of assistants.
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Working with stone has made Chikodzi become increasingly interested in the stone itself – in the story it tells about geological history and in the relationship that he has forged with it over the years living between two continents.
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Chikodzi’s recent work is inspired by the beauty and simplicity of the natural rock formations that are unique to Zimbabwe’s landscape.
