RITA THIVIERGE: Exhibitions
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VISUAL ARTS LE SOLEIL Saturday, March 12, 2005
by Michel Bois, journalist
RITA THIVIERGE: A VISION…AND A REVELATION
After 25 years of toiling in a communications firm, Rita Thivierge says that she has at last — through her art — crossed the boundary
separating her from her soul’s deepest aspirations… all in the space of a canvas. Rita Thivierge is at the mere threshold of a new creative
process, but her paintings already show a strong sense of direction. With a rare sense of color and an agile brush stroke, she paints
light-filled impressions of the various landscapes that have left an imprint on her memory. Her canvases are punctuated by numerous
interventions on her part — Thivierge doesn’t hesitate to resort to a vast arsenal of fine and broad brushes, palette knives and even her
hands — giving rise to an imagery that poses a sort of visual enigma since the subject of the painting is masked by brush strokes and
applications of color. In fact, the artist’s work, as a whole, tends to dispel the grand illusion of appearances. It’s as if the transcription of
reality were not possible because, as the artist explains, “any attempt to transcribe reality represents a metamorphosis or interpretation
of what is perceived.
HARMONY
Her paintings are very well composed, and the color harmonies, finely calibrated. These aspects of her canvases are not due to mere
chance, given the artist’s Graphic Arts studies at the Pratt Institute in New York City as well as her work as a designer and project head
for large-scale graphic arts projects, such as those she carried out for the Musée de la civilisation in Québec City. It goes without saying
that this experience and expertise add depth to her new creative process in the visual arts. Her background has also led her to create
her art, as Thivierge says, “by abandoning myself totally to the emotion of the moment and to my innermost impulses, which is the exact
opposite of my graphic arts training. There, you work within the confines of the guidelines and restrictions set down by clients.”
The painter has since accorded herself the liberty of dedicating herself entirely to her art — an art conducive to introspection and
meditation. And which registers the impressions left by a landscape whose dissolving forms represent more a permeation than a presence.
Light and airy brushwork, subtle vibrations in the light, a suggestion of emanations coming from matter, plus the painter’s gift for ignoring
the conventional colors of objects — these are all reasons for viewing her large-scale abstract paintings. Rita Thivierge makes use here
of both transparency and reflexions, stillness and movement, peacefulness and torment. The artist, who has not set out to reinvent the
art of painting, has only begun to make a name for herself in her career as a painter — a career definitely worth following. Her canvases
give rise to an imagery that poses a sort of visual enigma.
RECENT PAINTINGS, by Rita Thivierge, Louise-Carrier Gallery, 33, rue Wolfe, Lévis, through March 16, 2005.Translation: JLCOUTS