Chantal Lavoie

The heart has its reasons, as does the body… At least, this is what enters the mind of the viewer when confronted with Chantal Lavoie’s work. The body has its reasons for aging and its reasons for dying. And if the fatality of our physical life is completely non-negotiable, what does that say about the rest of our existence. What about everything that happens between the time of our birth and the time of our demise? It is certain that there will be a plenitude of transformations between these two poles. In fact, each and every one of our cells carries a few seconds of our lives, the dramas, the tragedies, and the happy moments, big or small. Most of all, they carry life… our lives from their most mundane states to their greatest moments.

Chantal Lavoie’s art is inscribed within the movement of contemporary creation through a multitude of influences and inspirations. The most important of these is undoubtedly classicism, most readily seen though the way that the artist composes her subject, through the importance of drawing, and through the fluidity of shapes. However, to box an artist like Chantal Lavoie within the confines of one category would be a mistake. Her playful spirit, her sensitivity, and the very nature of her subject, the journey of life, cannot stem from a single mould. Her pictorial expression is born from the present, even if her roots are deeply grounded in history. Dramatic, and sometimes tragic, are these bodies mortified and murdered by life? Obviously, this is sometimes the case. But there is also the jubilation, the eroticism, the ardent desire of bodies invigorated by love. Without a doubt, Chantal Lavoie’s art deserves all of our contemplation and consideration.

BERNIER, Robert. Parcours Art et Art de vivre. "Le paysage de ton corps". January-February 2006 vol.11-num.4