Vanitas II
2011
serigraph, edition of 75
66 x 66 cm / 26 x 26 in
Vanitas II Vanitas I Les humanités Les rencontres #1 Les rencontres #2
Paul Béliveau was born in Quebec in 1954 and attained his Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts from Laval University in 1977; he is an expert in drawing, painting and engraving.
Béliveau's approach to creating art has been best described as 'pictorial archeology,' as his work references a database of literally thousands of personal and historical photographs. With painstaking accuracy, Béliveau paints culturally significant artifacts such as his own book collection, placing volumes on Friedrich, Futurism, and Van Gogh beside the poetry of Friedrich von Schiller and Beethoven. Although Béliveau says he values ambiguity (“I do not like to name or designate things”), his painting style illustrates a deep reverence for preservation, precision and clarity. This paradox of elements -- both technical and philosophical -- is what makes his work so intrinsically brilliant. Béliveau says, “I like to use painted books as a strategy against loss, even though worn books evoke the passage of time and reveal one's own finiteness.”
Béliveau is a member of the Royal Academy of Arts and has received several distinguished awards, including the esteemed distinction of Laureat de Québec in 2006 and the Honneur National in 2005. He has shown extensively throughout North America; has had 60 solo exhibitions in major cities such as New York, as well as being involved in an extensive number of group exhibits. His work has been widely reviewed by national and international press and is featured in several distinguished, critical publications. Beliveau's work has been collected by over 75 corporate and public institutions in both the U.S. and Canada.