Art by Joseph-Richard Veilleux
Joseph-Richard Veilleux has long possessed an impressive range of knowledge of art, art history, painting and colour acquired at numerous institutions in Québec, France and Belgium. He taught visual perception at Ottawa's Algonquin College and holds a master's degree in experimental psychology from Université Laval. In 1977, he participated in the first biennale of Québec artists at the Saidye Bronfman Centre in Montréal. Since then, he has shown in Québec, Canada, the United States and Europe.
Joseph-Richard Veilleux is a member of The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. He sits on numerous committees and boards, including that of the National Gallery of Canada at the invitation of Heritage Minister Sheila Copps. Mr. Veilleux can boast of having made more than one columnist uncomfortable, given a production that cannot be pinned down and a personality proportional to his national and international notoriety! He is a profound person, somewhat religious interior. Whether on paper, canvas, wood or stone, his two- or three-dimensional work celebrates the imagination and symbols of existence. Blending silence and whimsy, dense colour and furtive nuance, his work eloquently demonstrates life’s inherent contradictions.
I make no attempt to restrain, preferring an art that holds its own, that is free to float, to ascend, to wander at will between the desires that subtly stir my hand and politeness, which is the discreet leave of absence (notice, discharge, dismissal?) given to any life of capture.
