About —
Seven works by sculptor Jean Brillant can be discovered along the bicycle path beside the L’Assomption River, from Parc Louis-Querbes to Parc Renaud, via the Museum’s outdoor grounds. More will be added as the months go by.
“My works have a lot to say.”
– Jean Brillant, sculptor
Jean Brillant’s sculptures have the astonishing power to appeal to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Walkers discover them as they stroll through linear parks and gardens, enjoying a sensitive experience that evokes poetic reverie and deep memories. In the presence of these very large-format works, each person turns his or her gaze both to his or her own inner world and to the place where the works are displayed. It’s even possible to interact with and touch the pieces.
Created on a human scale, the sculptures installed on the banks of the L’Assomption River in Joliette are at one with the landscape. Most of them, created in 2021, are made of steel, and their rusty color evokes that of the earth. In choosing this ferrous alloy, artist Jean Brillant wanted to reflect a great cycle: industrial materials, derived from stone and then extracted and transformed by man – buildings, bridges, roads – are recovered at the end of their useful life by the artist, who turns them into a story, a poem, about what the material has become, what it is, what it will become.
The narrative thread running through Jean Brillant’s work is always intimately linked to the human being. It is the starting point for a feeling, a sensation, a search for balance.
PDF document (in french)
Biography —
Canadian sculptor born in Rimouski, Quebec, in 1959. His family moved to the south of France in 1968. At an early age, he discovered the art of carving Vaucluse stone. This discovery of the material would later lead him to the École des beaux-arts d’Aix-en-Provence (1979), then to the Beaux-arts de Dijon (1983) and finally to the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM in 1983 and 1984), on his return to Quebec. Enriched by his Canadian roots and his discovery of the art world through North American and European galleries, he gives free rein to his imagination, freely assembling and confronting natural elements and industrial relics.
He has had several solo exhibitions in Canada (Galerie Daniel in Montreal, Galerie Madeleine Lacerte in Quebec City, Leo Kamen Gallery in Toronto) and France (Galerie Pierre Nouvion in Monaco and Galerie Remp’art in Toulon). Since 1994, Jean Brillant has been creating outdoor sculptures, a move that has gradually led him to break away from the traditional art gallery market. Many of his works are now part of public collections (Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Musée régional de Rimouski, MACAAL de Marrakech), as well as private collections (Fondation Bombardier, Lavalin, Steelcase).
Jean Brillant currently lives in Quebec, in a former industrial factory converted into an artist’s studio in the heart of Montreal.
In partnership with the City of Joliette.
Images in the banner:
Jean Brillant, Cambrure, 2007. Artist’s Collection. Photo: Jean Brillant
Jean Brillant, De même souche, 2011. Musée d’art de Joliette Collection. Photo: Romain Guilbault