Manuel MathieuVertical Tabs Works Video Visiting The Spell On You with artist Manuel Mathieu Video of Visiting The Spell On You with artist Manuel Mathieu Biographyhttp://www.manuelmathieu.com Mathieu Manuel, MM bio.pdfManuel Mathieu was born in Haiti in 1986. He obtained a Bachelor in Visual and Media Arts at Université du Québec à Montréal and a Master in fine arts at Goldsmiths university of London.In his work, Mathieu transcends the confines of autobiography and the fragmented narratives of racial and socio-political identities as he creates layered compositions that allude to his composite identity and overlapping interests. Self-reflection and spiritual contemplation bind his paintings to questions of collectivity. How does spontaneous reactions frame collective consciousness? How can we redefine the confines of memory and knowledge to be more inclusive of the voices that have been pushed to the margins of historical narratives and contemporary spaces? Can exposing the creative process behind painting bring awareness to the assumptions tied to set narratives?Inextricable ties between art and politics characterize Mathieu’s childhood in Haiti. Art is a form of resilience where a creative manifestation speaks to the resourcefulness and agency of the people creating art. Mathieu carries these ideas through his work whenever he addresses themes of historical violence or erasure, to carve out space for us to consider the different futures remembering helps us create.His creative drive comes from an urgent need to take charge of the space he occupies and contribute to generative cultural movements. By transforming his individual concerns into collective questions, his paintings offer intimate moments of ruminations.Mathieu’s practice is expansive and outside of art-making, he is invested in institutional restructuring to broaden the breadth art spaces. He is interested in how his title as an artist can provide opportunities for collective shifts around power dynamics, politics, and thinking boundaries. He merges abstract and figurative imagery to channel Haitian visual cultures of physicality, nature, and religious symbolism. Without reacting to preconceptions of Haitian art and what the scope of his interests is, Mathieu subverts them by presenting work that is always in the process of reinventing itself. Mathieu's work has been shown in several museums including the Pérez Art Museum Miami and the the Museum of Fine Arts Montreal. A solo exhibition at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal is planned end 2020. Mathieu lives and works in Montreal, Canada. Solo Exhibitions 2020 World Discovered Under Other Skies, The PowerPlant, Toronto, CA Survivance, Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, CA Chavire Chodyè a, MARUANI MERCIER, Knokke, Belgium 2019 Wu Ji, HDM Gallery, Beijing, China 2018 The Spell On You, MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels, Belgium Nobody is watching, Kavi Gupta Gallery, Chicago, USA Solo booth, Armory show NY, Tiwani Contemporary Gallery 2017 Truth to Power, Tiwani Contemporary, London, UK Art Brussels 17, Solo Booth, MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels, Belgium 2016 One Future, Goldsmiths University of London, UK Group Exhibitions 2020 (To be titled), Song Art Museum, Beijing, China La machine qui enseignait des airs aux oiseaux, Museum of Contemporary Art Montréal, CA RELATIONS: La diaspora et la peinture, Phi Foundation, Montrreal, CA 2019 Over My Black Body, UQAM, Canada The Other side of Now: Foresight Contemporary Caribbean Art, PAMM, Miami 2018 Here We Are Here: Black Canadian Contemporary Art, Museum of Fine Arts Montreal, Montreal 2017 We are all very anxious, Dye House 451, London In-visibilité Ostentatoire, Fondation Clement, Martinique 2016 Myth Material, TAP, UK Deptford X (commissioned artist), London, UK Will Nature make a man of me yet, Pi Artworks Gallery, London, UK PRIVATE AND PUBLIC COLLECTIONS Musée Nationale des beaux arts de Quebec, CA Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal, CA Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ) Collection Musée de la Civilisation, Québec, CA Hydro Québec Collection Musée du Panthéon National, Haïti, US Hort Family Collection, US JP Morgan Collection Maruani Collection, BE Mercier Collection, BE Sheldon Inwentash and Lynn Factor, Toronto Rubell Family Collection, Miami, US