Montreal Artist, Gisele Seguin, contemplating passageways.

Patrons of Galerie Emergence explore artwork by Gisèle Séguin

Gisèle Séguin is a Montreal-based artist whose wide range of artistic training displays itself in the diversity of her painted works. From plastic arts to interior decoration, the scope of Séguin’s expertise is reflected in a collection that progresses from abstracts to portraiture. 

Her abstracts manipulate color and texture to draw the viewer into an alternate world. Lueur dans la nuit features bright swaths of orange emerging from an onyx base, inviting us to contemplate the presence of passageways - from doubt into revelation, from silence into presence. Although no clear figure is outlined, another world bumps up against the acrylic sheen, just waiting to be let through.

Her mastery of a lighter color palette is exhibited in Ta présence fantomatique m’habite, a hazy blush-and-blue composition whose spectral figures only become clear upon the second or third viewing. At once haunting and inviting, the piece encourages us to contemplate the loved ones we may have lost, as well as our place among them. 

Ta présence fantomatique m’habite By Gisèle Séguin

The standout of her collection at Emergence is the proto-surrealist self-portrait Autoportrait - Je vole. Gisèle’s figure arches into frame from the upper-left corner, half-falling, half-flying towards a destination that we cannot see. Her glasses are flung out in front of her, remaining in a cartoonish outline that stands in contrast to the hyper-realistic Gisèle. A stunning demonstration of the artist’s technical skill, the piece is both a singular self-portrait and an allegory to all those who wish they could fly instead of fall. 

Gisèle Séguin

Come see Gisèle Séguin’s work as a part of Galerie d’Art Emergence’s Introspection exposition until December 24th.