Robert MARCHESSAULT

My paintings try to express my sense of the mystery of being in the world. These landscapes are responses to experiential moments of non-duality often occurring for me while outdoors in natural surroundings. Since the late 1970s my works have gone through a range of artistic treatments with a current focus on painting trees using distance, atmosphere, light, and textures. The images serve as quiet and thoughtful visions assisting the human compulsion to make meaning through making pictures and looking at pictures, too.

Often the sensation of momentarily loosing a sense of myself occurs in travels through open spaces. Being in deserts, mountains, forests and open fields often suggest to me that some fundamental truth underlies everything. Standing before trees I see visceral icons proclaiming a union of earth and sky.

My landscape paintings are composed from memory, rarely from on-site drawings or photographs. I use memory as a filtering agent to remove nonessential visual elements when organizing a new composition. For a painting to be complete it must call to mind my sense of no division between form and emptiness, self and other.

Robert Marchessault was born in Montreal in 1953. His early years (until 1969) were spent in the USA, (Philadelphia and Syracuse, NY). In the late 1960s his family relocated to France before returning to Canada in 1970 where he completed his fine arts studies at Concordia University (Montreal). He married the Canadian painter Teresa Cullen in 1977 and the couple settled in Toronto. There they painted professionally from a downtown studio until building a country studio in 1983 near Owen Sound, ON. In 1997 Marchessault completed a Master of Arts at the University of Toronto and the couple subsequently relocated and built two new studios close to Barrie, ON where they currently reside and work.

Marchessault continues to paint and exhibit nationally and internationally producing several exhibitions a year. His work is avidly collected and can be found world wide in many respected collections. The main galleries that represent his work are located in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Seattle, Santa Fe, Los Angeles and Edmonton.

Education

  • 1997
    • M.A. (mémoire / thesis), Institut ontarien d’études en sciences pédagogiques de l’Université de Toronto / Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
  • 1978
    • B.F.A. (Studio), Université Concordia / Concordia University, Montréal
  • 1975
    • Visual Art Diploma, Dawson College, Montréal 

Selected Solo Exhibitions

  • 2006
    • Foster White Galleries, Seattle, WA
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Toronto
    • Gallerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal
  • 2005
    • Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Vancouver 
    • Gail harvey Gallery, Santa Monica, CA
  • 2004
    • Gallerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal 
    • Bau-Xi Gallery, Toronto
  • 2003
    • Michael Gibson Gallery, London
    • Vanderleelie Gallery, Edmonton
  • 2002
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Toronto
    • Gail Harvey, Los Angeles
  • 2001
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Vancouver
    • Gail Harvey Gallery, Los Angeles
  • 2000
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Toronto
  • 1999
    • Gail Harvey Gallery, Los Angeles
    • Michael Gibson Gallery, London, ON
  • 1998
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Toronto
  • 1996
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC
  • 1996
    • Art Gallery of Newfoundland & Labrador, St. John's, Terre Neuve / Nfld Gotlands Konstmuseum, Suède/Sweden 
  • 1995
    • Université de Toronto / University of Toronto, Justina Barnicke Gallery
  • 1994
    • Bau Xi Gallery, Vancouver, BC
  • 1991
    • Galerie de l’Université de Waterloo / University of Waterloo Art Gallery
  • 1986
    • Gadatsy Gallery, Toronto
  • 1981
    • Concordia University Art Gallery, Montréal
    • Burlington Cultural Centre, Burlington, Ontario
    • Gallery Brant, Oakville, Ontario
  • 1980
    • Gadatsy Gallery, Toronto
  • 1979
    • Gadatsy Gallery, Toront

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 2005
    • Art Chicago 2005, Chicago, IL
    • Toronto International Art Fair
    • Art 2005, Gallerie de Bellefeuille, Montreal
    • Art 2004, Gallerie de Bellefeuille, Montrea
  • 2004
    • Toronto International Art Fair 
    • Art 2004, Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal 
  • 2003
    • Toronto International Art Fair 
    • PASTA Group Exhibition, Palm Springs CA, Merrill Lynch Buiulding. 
    • The Artist Voice in Landscape - Group Show at McLarry Fine Art, Santa Fe, NM, 
    • Else Chapman, Donna Clair, Joyce Dant, Linda Glover Gooch, Peter Hagen, Robert Marchessaul 
  • 2002
    • Toronto International Art Fair 
    • Nouvelle représentation / New Represantation, Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal 
    • Social Consciousness in Canadian Art, Hart House, Université de Toronto / University of Toronto 
    • Three Painters in the Mojave, Desert Museum, Palm Springs, Californie / California 
  • 2001
    • A Room With A View, Michael Gibson, London, Ontario
  • 2000
    • Faculty Exhibition - Georgian College, Helen and Arch Brown Centre for the Arts,
  • 2000
    • Bugs, Bau Xi allery, Toronto
  • 1998
    • Faculty Exhibition - Georgian College, Helen and Arch Brown Centre for the Arts, Barrie, Ontario
    • Working Drawings, Finished Works, Bau Xi Gallery Toronto
  • 1997
    • Georgian College Design & Visual Arts Faculty Exhibit, McLaren Art Centre, Barrie, Ontario
    • Lumières de Paris, Toronto
  • 1996
    • Destinations, Bau Xi Gallery, Vancouver
    • Oh! Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
  • 1995
    • Contemporary Landscapes, Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario
    • Hawksbridge & Marchessault, Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario
  • 1993
    • Kanada - Gotland '93, Gotland's Konstmuseum, Suède/Sweden
    • Landscape Painters, Bau Xi Gallery, Toronto
  • 1992
    • Facutly Exhibition, Georgian College School of Design & Visual Arts, Owen Sound & Barrie, Ontario
    • Two Escarpments, Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, Onatrio, FGK Gallery, Visby, Suède/Sweden, Gotland's Konstmuseum, Gotland, Suède/ Sweden
    • Canadian Artists At Brucebo, Gotland's Konstmuseum, Gotland, Suède/ Sweden
  • 1991
    • Political Landscapes No. 2, Sacred & Secular Sites, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario, The Ojibway Cultural Centre, Manitoulin Island, Ontario Red, White and Black, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario
    • Urban Refugees, The John B. Aird Gallery, Toronto, The Durham Art Gallery, Durham, Ontario
  • 1990
    • Artists And The Environment, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
    • ViewPoints, MacDonald Stewart Gallery, Guelph, Ontario
    • Notes From Eden, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario
  • 1989
    • Political Landscapes, No. 1, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario, The Royal Canadian Academy, Toronto
  • 1988
    • Landscapes On Paper, Gadasty Gallery, Toronto
  • 1987
    • Flowers, Gadatsy Gallery, Toronto
  • 1986
    • Hagan, Hartman, Cullen & Marchessault, Gadasty Gallery
  • 1983-84
    • Faculty Exhibitions, Georgian College, Barrie, Ontario
  • 1982
    • Faculty Exhibition, Sherdian College, Oakville, Ontario
    • Group Of Painters, Gallery Stratford, Stratford, Ontario
    • Group Painting Show, Robert McLauglin Art Gallery, Oshawa, Ontario
  • 1979
    • Cullen & Marchessault, Gairloch Gallery, Oakville, Ontario
  • 1978-79
    • Juried Group Exhibition, Burlington Cultural Centre, Burlington, Ontario
  • 1978
    • CONSTAT, Musée du Québec, Ville de Québec
    • Four Person Exhibition, Concordia University Art Gallery, Montréal

Collections Canada Council, Art Bank Hart House, University of Toronto University of Montreal Mclaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON The Irving Collection, Halifax Xerox Canada Royal Bank The Financial Post Princess Margaret Hospital McLean Hunter Imperial Oil Nissan Canada Deloite Haskins & Sels Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery Ernst & Young Superior Propane Hewlett Packard Brucebo Foundation, Sweden Dept. of Foreign Affairs Bell Canada Whistler Resorts Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce Random Access Multimedia Trimark Funds Inc. Random Access Multimedia - Toronto Ascona Management Inc. Esso Resources Hudson's Bay Co. Atari Sun Life Lee Co. Canada Packers Granit Club, Toronto Ontario Medical Association General Electric, Canada MDS Laboratories Dean Witter, New York Ward Beck Hotel Inter-Continental Marathon Realty Co. Ltd. OMERS Descon Rothchilds Kitchener Waterloo Art Gallery Templeton Management Gerling Global Life Ins. Co. Windrush Corp. LYV Steel, Cleveland Canada Life Assurance Co. Toyota Canada MacLean Forstrom & Jackson Polygon TransAlta Catalysis Group Adalstein Brown TRCF Productions Big Firm II Productions Ltd

Bourses et distinctions Grants and distinctions 2000 Conseil du Canada / Canada Council.

1999 Conseil des arts de l’Ontario / Ontario Arts Council

Artiste en résidence – Parc national Joshua Tree, Californie / Artist in residence - Joshua Tree Ntl. Park, California

1997 Conseil des arts de l’Ontario / Ontario Arts Council

1995 Conseil des arts de l’Ontario / Ontario Arts Council

Conseil des arts de l’Ontario / Ontario Arts Council

1994 Conseil des arts de l’Ontario / Ontario Arts Council

1993 Conseil des arts de l’Ontario / Ontario Arts Council

Institut suédois / Swedish Institute

1992 Fondation Brucebo, Suède / Brucebo Foundation, Sweden

1990 Fondation Canada-Scandinavie / Canadian Scandinavian Foundation

1981, 87, 90 Conseil des arts de l’Ontario / Ontario Arts Council

1978 Elizabeth T. Greenshields

Catalogues: 2004 Robert Marchessault - New Paintings, Catalogue d'exposition / Exhibition, Galerie de Bellefeuille, Montréal

2003 Ephemeros, Paintings by Robert Marchessault, 16 pages

1997 MEEHAM, Brian, The Illusion of Silence, pour exposition individuelle à la Bau Xi Gallery / for a solo exhibition at Bau Xi Gallery, Toronto.

1995 WENGER, Rhona, Configurations, Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

1992 ÖDIN, Hanne, Kanadensiskt, Brucebo Stipendiater från Kanada 1972-92, Gotland's Konstmuseum, Suède/ Sweden 1992 MARCHESSAULT, Robert Two Escarpments, The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

1991 HOGBIN, Stephen & Blake DEBASSIGE, Political Landscapes No. 2, Sacred And Secular Sites, The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

MARCHESSAULT, Robert, Red White & Black, The Tom Tomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

1990 ANDREAE, Janice, Notes From Eden, The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario.

Art Gallery Exhibitions Catalogue, Université de Waterloo / University of Waterloo

1989 HOGBIN, Stephen, Political Landscapes No.1, The Saugeen Press.

1981 ELDER, Allen, Robert Marchessault, Landscapes 1978 - 1981, The Burlington Cultural Centre

Video Productions 1995 Georgian College, Let's Talk, 15 minutes.

1994 Georgian College, The Great Lakes Insitute Of Marine Technology, 10 minutes.

1993 Umberwood Creative Media, John Boyle The Canadologist, 28 minutes.

 

Umberwood Creative Media, The Ceramic Sculpture of Jim Thomson, 28 minutes.

1992 Umberwood Creative Media, Two Chairs, performance par/by Judy Lowry, 10 minutes.

Umberwood Creative Media, Winter Studio, 18 minutes.

The Toronto Cultural Affairs Dept. Public Art At MetroCentre, 53 minutes.

The Pulp and Paper Research Institute of Canada and The Dept. of Chemistry at McGill University, Attack Of The Cellulose Degrading Enzymes, 3 minutes.

Georgian College, The Morse Code, 30 minutes.

The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, Georgian Bay, Bluewater Visions, 30 minutes.

1991 Georgian College, Six Printmakers, 30 minutes.

Georgian College, Allen Smutylo, Printmaker, 28 minutes.

1990 Georgian College, Notes From Eden, 30 minutes.

1989 Georgian College, Harold Klunder, The Owen Sound Self Portrait, 28 minutes.

1987 Georgian College, John Miecznikowski, A Portrait In Bronze, 40 minutes.

1986 The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery, The Painted Room, 15 minutes.

Curatorial Works

1992-93 Two Escarpments, exposition d’échange entre FGK artist's co-op gallery (Gotland, Suède) et la Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery / exchange exhibit between FGK artist's co-op gallery, Gotland, Sweden and The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery.

1992 Canadian Artists At Brucebo, 20 Years, Gotland Konstmuseum, Suède / Sweden

1991 Urban Refugees, exposition de groupe à la John B. Aird Gallery (Walter’s Falls, Ontario) / group show, John B. Aird Gallery, Walter's Falls, Ontario.

Red, White & Black, exposition Portfolio `91 à la Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery / The Portfolio '91 exhibtion at the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery.

1989 Notes From Eden, Gender & Landscape, co-currator at The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery. Public Presentations

2001 Artist Presentation on Own Work, Art a La Carte, Desert Museum, Palm Springs, California.

1999 CyberExam - a First Look, This is IT'99, College Boreal, Sudbury, Ontario.

1998 Adapting Gantt Charts For A New Online Course Interface, League for Innovation Conference, Miami.

Museum Web Sites and Art Education, ICTE ‘98 Santa Fe, New Mexico.

1997 Skunkworks, creating a team to push multimedia design, IT’97, Niagara College, Ontario.

Cooperative Multimedia Development, ECOO’97, Toronto.

1996 Open Learning at The Maricopa Colleges and Georgian College, College Association for Language and Literacy, CALL ‘96.

Searching Strategies Using the WWW, Michener Institute.

The visual arts & the influence of the WWW. Guest Lecture, Ontario College of Art, Toronto.

1995 Multimedia Games, A Paradigm For Learning, Instructional Technology Conference, St. Lawrence College.

1993 Radio Gotland, "Gotland Right Now", 18 septembre 1993.

Painting As A Career, The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery.

1992 ECOO '92, 13th Annual Confrence, DeskTop Video Production Using A Video Toaster .

1991 Vision & Invention, University of Waterloo.

Urban Refugees, John B. Aird Gallery.

Red White & Black March 10, The Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery

1991, Radio Interview re. Urban Refugees CBC 740 Toronto.

1981, 82, 85, 91 Interviews sur/on Radio Canada.

1998 "Museum WebSites and Art Education", The Fifteenth International Conference on technology and Education (Proceedings), University of Texas at Arlington, p. 291-293.

1994 "Art Capital Of The American Southwest", Art Bulletin, no. 59, vol. 11, octobre 1994, p. 23.

1993 "The Brucebo Atelier On Gotland", Art Bulletin, aout/septembre 1993.

Jury

2000 Annual Juried Open Competion, Tom Thomson Memorial Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario

1999 Fine Arts Scholarship Exhibition, Georgian College & McLaren Art Centre, Owen Sound, Ontario.

1995 Fine Arts Scholarship Show, Georgian College, Owen Sound, Ontario.

1989 Chi Cheemaun Exhibition, Owen Sound, Ontario. Reviews & Mentions BOUCHARD, Gilbert A. "Old Trees may be steeped in symbolism, but they exist only in artist's imagination", Edmonton Journal, May 27, 2005

BOUCHARD, Gilbert A. "Marchessault lets viewer fill in details", Edmonton Journal, July 18, 2003, page E6

Elizabeth Greenshields Grantees News, Volume 8, Issue 2, Oct. 9, 2003, p.4 & 8.

 

PARKINSON, Tess, Scene Magazine, April 17, 2003, pg. 24, Stillness prevails at Michael Gibson Gallery, by

BOUCHARD Gilbert A. "Marchessault lets viewer fill in details", Edmonton Journal, July 18, 2003, p E6

LINIIMAA, Saara, Elizabeth Greenshields Grantees News, vol. 8, Issue 2, Oct. 9, 2003, p.4, 8

GRAHAM, Adam, "Painting With PASTA" Desert Sun, Palm Springs, August 29, 2001

DUFFY, Jeane, "Master Painters of the World", International Artist, Dec/Jan 2001, issue 16, p 120

"Robert Marchessault - Visions From The Fast Lane", What's Hanging, Brentwood, California, Feb 2001, p 87.

"Gallery exposes 2000 bugs", Toronto Star, 6 janvier 2000, p. G5.

DAULT, Gary Michael, "Gallery Going - 2000 Bugs at the Bau-Xi", Globe & Mail, 8 janvier 2000, p. R10.

Public, no. 18, Public Access, University of Toronto

COULSON, Sandra, "Lost in Landscapes", London Free Press, 18 avril 1999, p. D1.

HANNA, Deirdre, " Working drawings produce finished works", Now Magazine, 7 août, 1998.

HANNA, Deirdre "Nuclear terror drives timely landscapes", Now Magazine, 4 septembre 1997, vol. 17, no. 1, p. 87.

Art Bulletin, no. 61 vol.12, fevrier-mars 1995, p. 26

ÖRNER, Helene, "Dandka keramiker, kanadensiska målare och ryska fotografer", Gotlands Allenda, 18 septembre 1993, p. Kultur 10.

"What's On", Toronto Star, 13 mai 1993, p. W8, tableau reproduit / reproduction of painting Duckweed & Beaverpond.

NILSSON, Stina L., "Klintar - i Kanada och på Gotland", Gotlands Tidningar, 23 septembre 1992, p. Kultur 12.

BAXTER, Mary, "Exhibition Combines Two Worlds", Sun Times, Owen Sound, 12 septembre 1992.

"Ett nöte som fortsätter att bära frukt", Gotlands Tidningar, 1er août 1992.

Brucebo stipendiat 20 - årsjubilerar", Gotlands Allehanda, 1er août 1992, p. Kultur 11,

HOGBIN, Stephen A History Of Interventions, 1991, The Ginger Press, p. 17.

TAYLOR, Kate, "Art About", The Globe & Mail, 12 avril 1991.

ALGIE, Jim, "Video Art Offers Link", Sun Times, Owen Sound, 2 fevrier 1991.

"Robert Marchessault ...

Back Road
...", London Magazine, octobre 1991, p. 86.

 

REYNOLDS, Shanon, "Visions and Inventions", Imprint Magazine, 11 janvier 1991.

GILLESPIE, James, "Works Represent Diverse Origins Of Artists", The Durham Chronicle, Durham, 8 mai 1991, p. A3.

ALGIE, Jim, "Artist Expresses Language Of The Land", Sun Times, Owen Sound, 2 fevrier 1991.

HANNA, Deirdre, "Winds Of Change", Now Magazine, Toronto, 7 juin, 1990, p 142.

ALGIE, Jim, "Chatsworth Artist...", Sun Times, Owen Sound, 7 juin 1990.

ALGIE, Jim, "Exhibition Touches On Contemporary Life", Sun Times, Owen Sound, 20 avril 1990.

JOHNSON, Eric, "Toronto's Easle Belt" Concordia University Magazine, septembre 1979