Plural Art Fair 2023

BIOGRAPHIES

Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux was born in Port-au-Prince. He now lives and works in Montreal. He obtained a degree in engineering from Concordia University before devoting himself to visual arts. Desvarieux explores universal concepts through the prism of Haitian mythology and history. He works simultaneously on three complementary bodies of works: representations of voodoo deities, reflections on the salvatory potential of the Haitian ecosystem and abstract paintings inspired both by his personal journey and by the larger history of the Caribbeans. He draws from the narrative universe of important Haitian masters, such as Hector Hyppolite, Philomé Obin, Jean-Claude Garoute, Louisianne Saint-Fleurant and André Pierre. He also incorporates influences from Western art movements such as abstract expressionism and cubism. His art has recently been exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Livart and Galerie Hugues Charbonneau. Curator Mona Filip will include a grouping of works by Desvarieux in a group exhibition at the Museum of Art of the University of Toronto.

Allie Gattor is a self-taught artist based in Montreal. She combines drawing techniques and a variety of mediums such as pen, pencil, ink, and watercolours, working in various formats from tiny to human scale. Allie Gattor’s creative process begins with the observation of everyday life. While her work is reminiscent of children’s book illustrations, Allie Gattor’s work is cathartic and can be surprising due to their combination of cheeky feminism and dark humour. Her drawings touch upon themes such as anxiety, depression, interpersonal relationships, and the absurdity of the human condition, always with a playful touch. She recently drew attention through her participation in events focusing on emerging artists, such as Artch and Créer des ponts. Her work has been exhibited at Galerie Hugues Charbonneau, at Galerie Louise et Reuben Cohen of the University of Moncton, at Mayten’s Projects (Toronto) and at Andrew Edlin Gallery (New York City).

Manuel Mathieu (b. 1986) is a multi-disciplinary artist, working with painting, ceramics, film and installation. Mathieu’s interests are partially informed from his upbringing in Haiti – just after the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship – and his experience emigrating to Montréal at the age of 19. His art investigates themes of historical violence, erasure, resilience and cultural approaches to physicality, nature and spiritual legacy. He obtained an MFA Degree from Goldsmiths, University of London. He had solo exhibitions at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Power Plant (Toronto) and the Longlati Foundation (Beijing). He will soon open an exhibition at K11 (Shanghai). The Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami and the Max Ernst Museum (Brühl) will present exhibitions by Mathieu in 2024 and 2025. He received the Best Short Film Award at the 2023 Festival International des Films sur l’Art.

The work of Sri Lanka-born artist Rajni Perera explores diasporic mythology through the lens of science fiction. Drawing upon her own rich visual experience of immigrant culture, and her environmental concerns arising from colonialism and the ravages of profit-driven resource extraction, she imagines an off-world that is triumphant. Her art has been exhibited at the McMichael Museum (Kleinburg, Canada, 2022-2023), Temple Contemporary (Philadelphia USA, 2022), Jeffrey Deitch (Los Angeles, 2022), National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Canada, 2021), Glasgow Tramway (Glasgow, Scotland, 2020), the Phi Foundation (Montreal, Canada, 2020), the Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto, Canada, 2018), The Museum of Moder Art (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), the art Gallery of York University (Toronto, Canada, 2017), the Colombo Art Biennale (Edinburgh, UK, 2017). The Art Gallery of Ontario acquired and exhibited one of her artworks in 2019.

Michaëlle Sergile is an independent artist and curator working mainly on archives including texts and works from the postcolonial period from 1950 to today. Her artistic work aims to understand and rewrite the history of Black communities, and more specifically of women, or communities living in diverse intersections, through weaving. Often perceived as a medium of craftsmanship and categorized as feminine, the artist uses the lexicon of weaving to question the relationships of gender and race.