Stéphane La Rue: Painting a Whiter Shade of Pale

Stéphane La Rue has been a major figure on the Quebec painting scene for more than a decade. In this roundup of works from the past fifteen years, curators Louise Déry and Marie-Eve Beaupré give La Rue his due in an elegant exhibition backed up by an extensive 144-page catalogue that includes commentary by Roger Bellemare, Nathalie de Blois, Bernard Lamarche and Monique Régimbald-Zeiber. Over the years, La Rue has forged a rich and diverse body of work with the most minimal of means. Working almost exclusively in monochrome white, he takes painting back to a ground zero where its double status as object and image oscillates within a constructed field of vision. Some works are quiet and meditative; others are boldly physical and hold the wall like restless Constructivist sculptures. Either way, La Rue proves himself a master of complexity in the face of exacting restraint.

Stéphane La Rue Quintette (pour Joe Maneri) [detail] 2003 Courtesy Galerie de l’UQAM Photo: Guy L’heureux