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"With my brush, for a brief moment of a painting,
I celebrate the right to live, to love, to speak, to make love...”
— André Desjardins

The essence of life emerges with every stroke of Desjardins’ brush, every texture and nuance, transforming the empty canvas into a statement about the mysteries of life, love and our universe itself. His thoughts are made real and hidden faces break free from the chaos of life, giving an almost serene and tranquil feeling, while muted and subtle colors coax one into a dreamlike state of viewing the mysteries that Desjardins has revealed.

Born in the small Canadian town of Hauterive on the north shore of the Saint Lawrence River in the province of Quebec, the youngest of four children, André’s passion for life and the stories told in the faces of humanity developed early and has continued to evolve.

Desjardins now lives in Montreal with life partner Helene, a documentary and short-subject film maker with an Art History background who has featured André in her documentary pieces.

André’s passion turned to painting early this century with the encouragement of friends like Pierre Bernard who urged him “To get out of the frame.” Such advice was just the right thing to say to a man who freely admits that “I love to be challenged.” Desjardins has embraced the freedom that pigment and canvas provide, to develop an “emotionalist” style (simultaneously expressionist and humanist) that fuses the figurative with the abstract and tells the stories of those he has encountered.

Although Desjardins credits the Spanish painter Antoni Tàpies with having the greatest influence on his artistic style (primarily because of Tàpies’ devotion to making the insignificant significant and his evolution from surrealist to abstract impressionist), it was the death of his father when he was only twelve years old that was the most profound influence on his life and his art, for it has motivated André “to make him live again in my own accomplishments.”

As Desjardins’ paintings continue to evolve, the melding of the old and the new, the Da Vinci with the Jackson Pollock, becomes more and more apparent. One can feel the emotion in his works and that special intensity of mood (gained by creating directly on the canvas and by thrashing it to introduce cracking) that conveys the fragility of life. Each painting tells its story with eloquence and passion to all who open their minds to the experience.

“Art is important because it is a universal and timeless language… it makes me feel immortal… to leave something that will last. It’s my way to communicate that kind of emotion.”

 

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