Mathieu Lévesque

Artist Profile

About the artist
Exhibitions
Press Releases
Latest News
Download Resume
Artist's web site

Mathieu Lévesque is a young painter living and working in Montreal. He is currently finishing his Master’s degree in visual and media arts at UQAM where he completed a BFA in 2001. His work has been widely displayed in Montreal (Galerie Push, Galerie Trois Points), as well as in Laval at Galerie Verticale, at the Musée d’art contemporain des Laurentides, Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire for the drawing Biennale in 2008, as well as in the exhibition Fait à Montréal Made in 2006, curated by Marc Séguin. His work has also been displayed in the United States, notably in Chicago (IL), Nashville (TN) and at the Hunter Museum of American Art (Chattanooga, TN).

For Mathieu Lévesque, painting consists of a device by which the viewer is invited to enter, as much as restricted to remain on the surface. Lévesque approaches painting as an object, both concrete and material, of which he enjoys disrupting the traditional stages of development and basic components in order to reveal its physical dimensions and traces of studio work as well as the way in which the piece takes place in space. Lévesque’s interest in the presentation context and the conditions of production of the painting predominates on the subject matter that is passed through representation.

In the process of developing the painting, Mathieu Lévesque is particularly interested in the very action of applying color onto the support, as a basic painting operation. His working method is based mainly on action, featuring the process in itself, playing with the painter’s skills – savoir-faire – as much as the choice of letting go – laisser-faire. Lévesque’s paintings – mostly shaped canvas – are simple in appearance. He barely uses paint, mostly constructing them. They are the sum of specific actions that he isolates to emphasize their processual and material qualities.

Lévesque is fascinated by the boundary areas between painting, sculptural and architectural disciplines, which have led him to want to push the boundaries of painting while reducing as much as possible the possibilities to enter the painting. This approach has consequently led him to use the in situ intervention as a mean to address the dependence of painting towards architecture. Therefore, Mathieu Lévesque wonders what happens - or could happen - outside those boundaries, and the kind of expansion that painting can take in the space.
2011C Magazine | Emily Rosamond
 Pavillon levé (dix jours à vaincre les mortes-eaux) | 25 décembre
 
2010Un Show de Mot'Arts.net |
 Profil d'artiste: Mathieu Levesque | 15 avril
 
2009 | Jason Foumberg
 Loaded: Hunting Culture in America | 6 avril
 
2008Le Soleil | Nathalie Côté
 Peindre en 2008 | 23 août
 
| Karsten Lund
 Loaded: Hunting culture in America |
 
mathieu lvesque bourse2

Congratulation Mathieu Lévesque !

Monday, October 8th, 2012

Congratulations to Mathieu Lévesque who received for the second consecutive year the Jean-Marc Eustache excellence award given by UQAM visual arts faculty!
mathieu lvesuqe leipzig montral2

Mathieu Lévesque @ LPZ – MTL

Monday, October 1st, 2012

Mathieu Lévesque is part of Leipzig-Montreal, a collective exhibition presented at Maison de la culture Notre-Dame-de-Grace until October 14th featuring five German artists and five Montreal based artists. The second half of this exchange will take place in Leipzig in the Spring 2013.
Sans titre 2LR

Mathieu Lévesque @ Maison de la culture Pointe-aux-Trembles

Monday, June 4th, 2012

Pieces created by Mathieu Lévesque between 2008 and 2011 will be showcased until June 10th in the exhibition Mathieu Lévesque - Triangles presentend at Maison de la culture Pointe-aux-Trembles. You can see some pictures here.
Tableau dlicieux

Mathieu Lévesque @ Inter

Monday, March 12th, 2012

Mathieu Lévesque's Tableau délicieux was featured in the last Inter, art actuel magazine issue. A summary of the magazine is available here.
GTPMathieu LvesqueAscension VIII2

Mathieu Lévesque @ Encan/Exposition Le lieu

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

From December 13th to 18th, a Mathieu Lévesque piece will be part of the Auction/exhibition at Le lieu, artists-run center in Quebec City. The auction take place on December 15th and all profits go to the artists themselves !
M. Levesque Ascension k 300dpi

Mathieu Lévesque @ UQAM Auction 2011

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

Mathieu Lévesque is part of the third edition of the UQAM auction with works from MFA students that will take place at CDEX December 1st. You can have a look at the online catalogue with description of all the works put to auction.

 
GTPMLevesqueVue expo Circa201101

Mathieu Lévesque @ C Magazine

Thursday, December 1st, 2011

An article has just been published by C Magazine about a collective exhibition in which Mathieu Lévesque had take part last summer at Circa Art Contemporain. You can read the article about the exhibition Pavillon levé (dix jours pour vaincre les mortes-eaux) [Raised Flag (Ten Days to Defeat the Neap Tides)] here.
2001 DessinDesseinInvitation

Lévesque & Reis in the drawings show curated by Réal Lussier

Saturday, April 9th, 2011

Mathieu Lévesque and Natalie Reis are both part of the drawings exhibition "Dessin à dessein" curated by Réal Lussier, presented at Galerie Lilian Rodriguez from April 9 to May 19th.

Mathieu Lévesque @ UQAM's auction

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Works of Mathieu Lévesque will be on sale at the second edition of the UQAM's auction  on December 2nd 2010 starting at 18h30 and ending at 22h00.