Local artists to keep an eye on - Rémi Thériault

Local artist Rémi Thériault is a commercial and editorial photographer who is hot in demand now.

We always try to get him to shot our events at The Council for the Arts in Ottawa,

and he shot last week's

Annual Sweetheart Cocktail for the Arts, which was a blast!

Here is some recent work;

 These are part of a series called 'Dressed to Impress";

This is a photo taken in Flanders Field during a

recent trip to Europe where he photographed historical WWI sites.

These is from a shoot for Edgar, a little foodie shop across the river in Hull.

The idea was to develop a vintage look with the employees and produce a nice little calendar.

 I love it.

These are from a series he is currently working on about Vimy;

The first few were from a trip to Vimy during the Christmas holidays. Remi writes

"I had studied Canadian History at University, but didn't know much of WWI. I thought a good starting point would be to travel to historical sites that had the most significance for Canadian Military history." 

 "I spent half the day walking around and taking photos with my 4x5 and Polaroid Land camera. What fascinated me most was the contrast between what happened nearly a hundred years ago and how today the landscape is organised and beautiful."

I think these are stunning and can't wait to see the finished work.

This is a  photo of Remi's parents in one of the craters near the famous Vimy Ridge Memorial.

I will post something when he has the show.

 I would love one of the snowy shots above, for my contemporary art collection.

Just saying is all.

Graphics for a garage sale.

These were done up to sell some junk I had laying around.

 I had too much fun and spent too much time putting them together.

I never did sell anything. I wonder why....

Must have been the economic down-turn.

Artwork - "M.J. and Alice at the beach"

"M.J. and Alice at the beach"   Photo/xerox mix.     Sometime in the 90's

This is a picture of Mary-Jane Lamond again. I thought she looked like she was listening to

a sad storey, so I added her to this illustration from "Through the looking glass",

by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by John Tenniel.

It shows the Mock-turtle's Lament, with Alice and the Pheonix as audience.

And M.J.

Artwork - My friend Susan

Early Portrait    sometime in the 90's    colored pencil on paper

This is a portrait of my friend Susan Lamond.

She was a fashion designer and we did a photo shoot to feature her designs.

This came from doodling around with a Xerox of one of the pics.

Early sketch from sometime in the 90's maybe.

I did this sketch, but have no idea why.

Ah - youth!

Artists who are friends. Alternative title - Friends who are artists. Stephane Lauzon

These photographs are from my freind Stephane Lauzon. He teaches at SPAO (the School of photographic Arts in Ottawa), as well as works at the CAO (the Council for the Arts in Ottawa), where I am on the board and hang out a lot. I love his work - they always display a dry sense of humour - my favorite.

The first are from a series, titled "Things I Should Do but Photographed Instead", that he based on the theme of procrastination.

Instead of doing household chores, he took pictures of them.

.

I love them. I think they are funny, and I like that they are round.

Ironically, he never got around to finishing the series.

He also has a series entitled "The Photographers" , wherein he  secretly photographs people taking photographs, ensuring to include the person taking the picture as well as the subject. He makes sure to keep the subject in the appropriate amount of focus for the camera being utilized,usually a bit blury.

I love them as well.

 I am currently in negotiations with Stephane to obtain one for my personal collection.

 The negotiations are at a very exciting stage now.

Artwork - "Parliament luncheon."

"Parliament luncheon."      Colored pencil on colored paper    2009.

This was done for the CAO's "Luck" 2009

For those who don't know, a group of owls is called a parliament.

But everyone already knew.

"She's a beastly child!"    Colored pencil on paper   2007

Poor little bat-faced girl. Misunderstood.

"BushBaby tea-party"   Colored pencil on patterned paper.  2008

This was done for the first year of the Council for the Arts in Ottawa's

Christmas fund-raiser "Luck".

BushBabies are cute!

Artwork - "They're pretty"

"They're Pretty"     Pencil on paper        2009

This was done to contribute to the 2009 "Summer Salon" at the CAO.

They are pretty!

Another design for Bloomistry.

This one wasn't really used either but it's in their Myspace page.

Design for Ottawa band Bloomistry.

.

It was never used, althought I think it is on their website somewhere.

http://bloomistry.com/

I had fun recreating the Hi Fi duel dynamic stereo label,

you could use it anywhere to give things a boost

"Linda - Kitten with a whip"  Photograph. Sometime in the 90's.

This was from the same shoot earlier mentioned with all my lady friends. Here Linda and I were mucking about, while the others were at the refreshment stand. or in hair and make-up. or both.

A Favorite artist;

   Yue Minjun, is best known for oil paintings depicting himself in various settings, frozen in laughter. He also does sculptures as well.

This is an artist whose work I would buy if I won the lottery.

Stick table.  Materials - glass, dollar-store bamboo skewers, white paint, wood glue.

I built this after seeing a side table made with metal sticks designed by noted Brazilian designers The Campana Brothers. I wanted one but didn't have hundreds of dollars to buy it, so I made one myself to stop the cravings. It worked.

Now I'm working on a pendant light version.

"J.C. in fur"  Photo.   Sometime in the 90's

This is my friend J.C. Little.  We did a lot of shoots together. She is one of my faves to be with.

She delights in trying to embarrass me. She always has, and she always will.

No dead foxes were harmed in the making of this pic.

"Marianie x 3"     Photograph.  Sometime in the 90's

This is my friend Marian.

This was a group shoot but I also shot individual stuff

while the other ladies were refreshing their Champagne.

I thought these three would look good all together.

T-shirt design for Threadless.com

You can vote for it here if you like.

http://www.threadless.com/submission/399465/her_clownfish_hat

"Fancy Mary".  

Photograph, sometime in the 90's I think.

This is my friend Mary Holding. We went to photography shcool together, and this was for a school assignment. I had to emulate an existing photographer. I chose George Hurrell, a Hollywood Glamour photographer from the 30's and 40's.

It was fun. I plied Mary with champagne to make her compliant.

"Johnnie Walker the Wonder Dog"  mixed media on canvas 2010

This was another gift for my sidter Stacey featuring her doggie looking brave, and rescuing a damsel.

Actually she is a harlot, but there you go.

Wine Label design for Talenthouse competition

in conjunction with OneHope wines and recording artist Timothy Bloom.

I tried do do something a bit different from the usual.

I did not win this either.

Poster design for "My First Sleeping Beauty" design competition

with Talenthouse and the English National Ballet.

I did not win.

*sigh*

Advertising for The Boom Boom Room, a lounge in New York that doesn't exist.

The address, however, is that of the original Stork Club.

"Johnnie Walker of the Air Force"      Pencil on paper   2010

This was a gift for my sister Stacey, with her doggie Johnnie Walker, looking extra heroic.

Ficticious book cover done for school project.

Mostly done to amuse myself.

"Baby sitter on Blood Island"  Circa The 80's      Photo and Xerox fiddling

This was a pic I took of my friend Mary Jane Lamond, who is now the best Celtic singer in Canada. She had designed her clothing, so we did a gothy thing that's mostly just silly.

Cats at war

"Cats at war".  2010.  Big.  Mixed media on canvas.

This was done as a gift for my brother Lee.

 Its some fighter pilots from the Second World War, with cat heads, and the "Keep Calm and Carry on" image from the First World War - which was created for moral boosting in the U.K. but never actually used.

Her Meercat makes the cover

"Her Meercat Hat makes the cover"  2011.   Mixed media on canvas, 14" x 18".

This was a piece I donated to The Council for the Arts in Ottawa, and their Christmas fundraiser "Luck".

 It was a success - it was the 7th piece to be picked, I cracked the top ten!