Artist Talk - Jeff Ladouceur: Pearl Path

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Jeff Ladouceur, "Art a.k.a Cloaky #7 (Growth of The Soil, Abstracts in Oil) (detail)," 2018

pencil, gouache, ink and watercolour on paper, 28.0 x 38.3 cm, image courtesy the artist

Opening Reception: Thursday, June 14, 7-9pm | Free, Everyone WelcomeJoin us for the opening reception at the Burnaby Art Gallery. The evening will feature opening remarks, followed by a reception with live music featuring Hot Towers (Lee Hutzulak, Brady Marks, Matt Skillings, Brady Cranfield): a beat-based synth quartet improvising with psychedelic intensity, searching for transcendence through confusion. The artist will be in attendance.

With his first solo exhibition with a Canadian art museum, New York-based Canadian artist Jeff Ladouceur exhibits his contemporary drawings featuring old-timey comic-inspired characters: droopy elephants, big-nosed salesmen, and bubble babies rendered with a dizzying level of detail.

Over eighty artworks of humourous, strange characters ranging from “blundering buffoons” to sympathetic souls traversing the world in misery and happiness, are featured in this exhibition. In Ladouceur’s own words, these works are all about “the slow path through life…”

Having known Ladouceur for many years, Burnaby Art Gallery Curator Jennifer Cane also notes, “his world is more of an interior than a reflection of what’s around, changing only ever-so-slightly over time, populated by distorted versions of characters from cartoons and comics, off-kilter semblances of Dumbo, Popeye, and Barbapapa, the Michelin Man and Felix the Cat. Ladouceur’s long-standing characters have become so entwined with who he is as a person that I sometimes find it difficult to distinguish Jeff Ladouceur from the characters depicted in his art.”

Originally from Victoria, BC, Ladouceur has shown internationally for many years, including solo shows at Richard Heller, Los Angeles; Galerie Vallois, Paris and group exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery; Maison Particuliere Art Center, Brussels; The Hole, New York; Museo de la Cuidad de Mexico, Mexico City; and FRAC, Paris, among others. He is represented by ZieherSmith, New York. He primarily divides his time between Vancouver and New York.This will be the largest number of Ladouceur’s works shown in one institution to date. A hardcover, limited edition book, which includes a written piece by renowned Canadian author Sheila Heti, coincides with this exhibition.

Artist Talk: Sunday, June 24, 2pm | Free, Everyone Welcome Hear directly from Jeff Ladouceur about his exhibit Pearl Path. This solo exhibition will be the largest amount of works shown by the artist in one institution to date.

Drawing Jam with Jeff Ladouceur: Saturday, July 7, 1-4pm | Free, drop-in, all ages Drop in and bring your imagination. Join the artist as he guides you to create nonsensical and hilarious drawings.