On the eve of his participation in the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Manuel Mathieu unveils a significant new body of work in Montréal with the exhibition Perineum at Galerie Hugues Charbonneau.
With Perineum, Manuel Mathieu returns to physical and visceral concerns within his practice. Following projects marked by site-specific and spiritual explorations, this new exhibition refocuses our attention on a fundamental yet nearly imperceptible part of the body: the perineum.
Commonly referred to as the pelvic floor, this area crucially supports our organs and holds our internal weight despite being seldomly named. The perineum carries a profound symbolic charge. As the energetic base of the body and site of the root chakra, vital energy is anchored here prior to deployment. Compelled by this locus, Manuel Mathieu constructs an exhibition that explores somatic memory.
Six new paintings, three prints, and two mosaics articulate an instinctive visual language in which forms contract, fracture, and search for breath. Nurtured in collaboration with writer Stéphane Martelly, Perineum acknowledges that this integral, organic expanse is experienced inequitably across genders and inheritances. Manuel Mathieu turns to the heart of the matter, to this intimate site wherein resides a fundamental function of our survival.
About Manuel Mathieu
Informed by his upbringing in Haiti following the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship and his subsequent emigration to Canada at the age of 19, Manuel Mathieu’s art delves into the shared struggles and connections that unite us across national borders. In an age overwhelmed by information, where images and data proliferate faster than comprehension, his work insists on slowness and distance. It asks the viewer to step back, to recognize patterns across time, and to confront the ways history repeats itself under different names.
Marking a major milestone in his career, he will make his debut at the 61st International
Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, with new and existing works. Invited by Koyo Kouoh, Manuel Mathieu’s work engages with historical violence, erasure, and cultural approaches to physicality, nature, and spiritual heritage, strongly resonating with the In Minor Key curatorial theme.
His recent projects reflect an expansion toward large-scale, multisensory installations that blur the boundaries between visual, spatial, and sensory experience. These include Le Mont habité (2025), a permanent public commission of five monumental mosaics for Montréal’s Réseau express métropolitain (REM), a multidisciplinary and multisensory solo exhibition spanning all four floors of PHI (2025); and an immersive installation version of Pendulum presented at the Toronto Biennial of Art in 2024.
Looking ahead, 2026 will be a significant year for the artist. Alongside the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Mathieu will participate in international group and solo exhibitions in New York, Paris, and Montréal, affirming his presence on the global contemporary art scene.
