MYLENE DE GAGNE
About me
MYLENE DE GAGNE
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Live and create in Levis, Quebec, Canada
With my works, I hope to bring positive emotions and beauty into this world.
BIOGRAPHY
For as long as she can remember – even beyond, according to her mother – she always has been drawning a lot, to the point that she had to cover the walls with paper bags to prevent her from tracing her creative impulses on them!
Her thirst for creation is inexhaustible. Over the years, she has explored several art forms, techniques and mediums: oil, acrylic, watercolor, pastel, pottery/ceramics, stained glass, photography, dance, jewelry creation and interior decoration...
Professional graphic designer since 1989, painting is for her a place of expression without constraints, a synonym for creative freedom. Alone with her canvas, she can finally give free rein to all the ideas that jazz inspires in her without limiting their outlines in order to create a work full of colors, movement and emotions.
Abstract expressionist style painter, action painting, sometimes with a touch of pop art. It's during a visit to the 2014 «Nuit des Galeries» in Quebec City that it clicked and she began to develop her style.
ARTISTIC APPROACH
Art in its broad sense has always really stimulated me. Nature (mainly shadows, reflections, clouds, water and stones) and everything around me nourishes and inspires me.
Being a bass player, upright bass player and jazz singer, music is the major element of inspiration in my creation: it's impossible for me to create without music, it guides my actions through the emotions it gives me.
My visual research focuses on contrasts, the marriage of colors, texture and movement. I also sometimes integrate silhouettes of musicians, animals, famous faces, etc., I make them appear using a mask under the acrylic layer, that I work freely, intuitively, in superimposed layers with spatulas and silicone tools. I also add movement by letting the paint flow directly from the bottle with fluid and instinctive gestures.
What sets me apart: I always incorporate pieces of stained glass in my creations.
My favorite painters and influences are Vincent Van Gogh, Jackson Pollock, Gerhard Richter, Joan Mitchell, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Corno and Melanie Simard.
“Your works reveal your talent as an abstract expressionist. Inspired, sincere, free and full of life works. An obvious sense of graphics and design, but above all a found personality, a confident and unique style. And it is this signature and this aesthetic that can only attract a large clientele.”
Art X Terra Agency Selection Committee
CV
Professional Experience
Senior Graphic Designer
and Production Coordinator
Desjardins Group
1989 to 2023
Training
1986 – 1989 Graphic Design Program –
Cegep Ste-Foy
2000 – 2004 Pottery/Ceramics on wheel –
Ste-Foy Ceramic Center
2001 Stained glass –
"Cooperative artistique Les Etchemins"
2020 2D ANIMATION – Motion DESIGN –
Cegep Ste-Foy
1985 – Oil painting –
Quebec City
Associations
AARS (Levis)
SACQ (Quebec City)
Awards
Finalist
2023 Fine Art Contest
"Diffusion culturelle de Levis"
Finalist
2021 Fine Art Contest
"Diffusion culturelle de Levis"
Finalist
2020 Fine Art Contest
"Diffusion culturelle de Levis"
Jury Mention
Finalist
2019 Fine Art Contest
"Diffusion culturelle de Levis"
Art Fair
2024
"Peindre a Beaumont" - May
AARS (Levis) - June
"Cap-Sante Riche en couleurs" - June
Lyst'ART (Lyster) - July
2023
"Peindre a Beaumont"
2022
"Peindre a Beaumont"
Exhibitions
January 29 to February 22, 2023
February 12 to March 10, 2021
January 26 to February 26, 2020
January 27 to February 27, 2019
Louise-Carrier Exposition Center
33 Wolfe, Levis
COLLECTIVE
2019 to 2021
Arty Gallery (Online)
February to April 2018
Encadrement Cloutier
5500 Guillaume-Couture Blvd, Levis
SOLO
May to October 2016
Lounge Gallery
112 Saint-Paul, Quebec City
COLLECTIVE
October 2015 and 2016
"Rallye Cultur’Art"
Levis Convention Center – Entrance Hall
COLLECTIVE
August to October 2015
"Salon des Arts"
Levis Convention Center
Cultur'Art Group Artists
COLLECTIVE
June 2015 to ...
"Le Centre Dermatologique
du Quebec métropolitain"
3075 Des Quatre-Bourgeois, Quebec City
Permanent Exhibition
SOLO
May 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003
Ste-Foy Ceramic Center
and "Expo-theatre de la visitation"
End of year Exhibition
COLLECTIVE
April 1989 – "Trompe-l’oeil" Gallery
Cegep Ste-Foy
Design Graphic Graduates
COLLECTIVE