Marc L. Gagnon Retrospective
July 27 to August 21, 2027
Location: Art Space Connect Gallery, Neilson Park Creative Centre
Curated by: Barbara Clewley Gagnon and Abbey Gagnon
Reception: TBA
Marc L. Gagnon: Somewhere Being Free is a retrospective exhibition celebrating the life and work of a prolific artist, whose practice evolved over four decades to include works in watercolour and acrylic painting, drawing, cartooning and self portraiture.
Turning towards a full-time career as an artist after working professionally as an Architect Marc spent the latter years of his life living in rural Ontario in a lake-side home he designed and built himself. Pulling from this background and his lived experience of the land his artistic works feature recurring images of solitary figures, rugged landscapes, quiet structures, and both real and imagined worlds. Painting for Marc was a process of self-realisation; paintings were portals through which he attempted to understand his innate reactions to natural and built environments.
Only in the later years of his life did Marc begin consciously sketching self-portraits. Yet looking back across his body of work, a different kind of self portrait begins to emerge. Perhaps he had been painting himself all along—placing fragments of himself into the figures he created, imagining himself inhabiting distant landscapes and wandering freely through the worlds he put onto paper and canvas.
As visitors move through the exhibition, they are invited to imagine the artist within each scene and are confronted with the possibility that these paintings are, in many ways, portraits of a life thoughtfully observed and deeply felt. Ultimately, the exhibition offers a simple and enduring image of Marc: somewhere within these landscapes, being free.
Artist Biography
Marc L. Gagnon was born in Hawkesbury, Ontario in 1955, raised in Montreal and Riviere-Du-Loup, QC and Kitchener, ON and died at age 70 in Highland Grove, ON. His mother was an artist and influenced him artistically from an early age. He studied Architecture at the University of Waterloo and holds degrees in Environmental Studies and Architecture. Starting his own Architectural firm, he worked for 25 years in both the commercial and residential industries. As a self taught watercolourist, he ultimately turned to a full time career as an exhibiting artist and dedicated teacher of watercolour and acrylic painting. Marc was an elected member of The Canadian Society of Painters in Watercolour and served on the board of directors for ten years. He was the President of the CSPWC from 2005 to 2007.
Marc took a bold and fresh approach to watercolour and acrylic painting which often led to interesting and innovative techniques such as his painting through fibreglass screens, his aggressive use of drybrush and increasing use of abstraction. The later years of his career featured drawings, cartoons and self portraiture and Marc continued to create works until the end of his life.