Including some thirty works by Jacques Hurtubise andDenis Juneau, Explore the ’80s plunges the viewer into two worlds of painting—each of them distinct, but both drawing from the palette of bright colours then in vogue. For while the two Québec painters mined a chromaticism that was in accordance with the trends of the time, they continued in the formal explorations specific to them and to use their favourite motifs.

Jacques Hurtubise thus executed works comprising mirror images of smears of paint, marks that bring to mind the ink blots of a Rorschach test. Representative of his oeuvre, the paintings in acrylic are full of contrasts and express an undeniable spirit. While they show the spontaneity of the artist’s mark-making, the precision of line they reveal indicate to what extent they were meticulously worked on. The close to twenty paintings that will be on display in this part of the exhibition attest to Hurtubise’s constant interest in visual experimentation. 

For his part, Denis Juneau played with form through combining flat areas of colour. Painted in transparent, vibrating layers, the superimposed expanses of vivid hues in his works radiate energy. In exhibiting a range of variations on this motif, Galerie Simon Blais suggests series whose dynamism befits the exploratory approach the Plasticien artist took.

Explore the ’80s provides a unique opportunity to be immersed in the work of two important Québec painters who were in full command of their powers.