Richard Chenier

Click on : http://youtu.be/ASOO7DQTcDI to view my art and hear my music

Does not do collective shows.

Since 1971 Chard paints acrylic cosmological paintings available as prints on both paper and canvas. He also creates paper works using inks and coloured pencil.

I was born in 1947 in a French-Canadian community in St-Boniface, Manitoba, a prairie town beside the Red River. There I learned honesty, sincerity and a good sense of humour. My parents had survived the depression. They both came from large poor French Canadian families. Their background, unfortunately, did not prepare them for a son with artistic tendencies.

They sent me to a school run by Marianists, a male religious order devoted to the Virgin Mary and education. They wore black suits with white shirts and black ties. I sketched constellations on my scribblers and the Brothers often complained my head was in the stars (dans les étoiles). Forty years later, I paint the evolution of these designs on canvas.

The prairie sky's star-studded vastness and astounding sunsets are my major influence in my work-as well as the richly colored rituals of the Roman Catholic masses. Eskimo and Indian art, also, influenced, not only my line, but the way I express our interconnectedness with the cosmos.

When I was 15, a professor visiting from Chicago noticed one of my paintings hanging in the principal's office. He told the principal, Brother Albert Laurin (my uncle), that this student should be removed from school and brought immediately to an art school; however, this idea being unheard of in St-Boniface, the suggestion was ignored. After graduating I was told of this. To this day, I still feel frustration that my pleas to go to art school were ignored. With a desire to accomplish more with my life, I found work in Canada's capital, Ottawa.

I dropped out of my civil service job in Ottawa to become an artist/musician in Montreal. My parents were disappointed but eventually accepted my decision. My mother had always encouraged me to believe in personal happiness and this psychological endorsement gave me the confidence to trust my instincts.

By the mid-70's I was creating cosmological abstracts. Simultaneously, my interests rebounded back to earth towards psychology and spirituality, ecology and politics. Underlying all this growth was a belief that it is more important to be a good human being-that the true art emerges through who one is rather than vice versa. Yes, at certain periods art alters the artist but this is a state of grace. The cosmos bestows only when egocentricity is surrendered.

For most of my life my health was frail. By my early 40's when I thought I was dying a genetic disorder was diagnosed and a treatment was prescribed. Then I experienced, for the first time since childhood, what it felt to be healthy and have energy to spare. It is during this period that I painted the Leap of Faith. It depicts my return to life:

My heart leapt back into the heart of the universe. I was in love, marrying a wonderful woman and destined to know the joy of being a father... I consider myself fortunate to have been granted a second chance at life.

Over the years I evolved professionally and now exhibit internationally. In the early 90's I juxtaposed figures with abstractions to emphasize human values. The late 90's have seen the creation of mandala abstractions to reflect my spiritual and ecological concerns. A whole new vision is emerging. The 21st new century inspires me to explore new aesthetics. I hope my paintings point humanity towards creating a moral universe--what Albert Einstein believed to be humanity's greatest challenge.

My art is often described as "cosmological". The stars wink back back knowing that all I do is paint the human heart as best I can. Thanks to the Hubble Telescope I see stars being born and galaxies never seen before.

1997 Canada Council Grant for Painting
1993 First Prize - Grand Prix International de Montreal - Galerie Sodarco, Montreal

1996 - One-Man Show
Munro Museum - Washington, D.C.

One-Man exhibits in Tel Aviv, Vancouver, San Francisco, Toronto, Montreal, etc. over a 30 year period.

Exhibitions
2016 Galerie Pink – one man show - Montréal, QC
2013 Galerie d’arts Crystal Racine
2012 Galerie d'arts contemporains de Montréal – solo expo - Montréal, QC
2010 Galerie d'arts contemporains de Montréal – solo expo - Montréal, QC
2008 Galerie d'arts contemporains de Montréal – solo expo - Montréal, QC
2007-08 Galerie Chénier – Thunder Bay, Ontario
2005 Galerie de l'Alliance Française du Manitoba - – solo expo - Winnipeg, Manitoba
Depuis 1997 - ChardArt : Galerie Web
1996 - Galerie Harrison, Montréal Trade Centre
1996 - Musée Munro, Washington, C.D.
1995 - Contemporary Realism Exhibition, PVM - Montréal, Québec
1994 - Galerie d'arts contemporains de Montréal – solo expo - Montréal, QC
1993 - Galerie d'arts contemporains de Montréal – solo expo - Montréal, QC
1993 - Galerie Sodarco, Vieux Montréal
1992 - Galerie d'arts contemporains de Montréal – solo expo - Montréal, QC
1992 - Centre d'art Ozias Leduc : St-Hilaire, Québec

1991 - Galerie d'art contemporains de Montréal

1991 - International Trade Show, Montréal Board of Trade
1990 - Galerie Shadma : Tel Aviv, Israel
1990 - Galerie Colmin, (Yorkville) Toronto, Ontario
1990 - Galerie St. Paul, Vieux Montréal
1989 - Galerie Creative Group : San Francisco, Californie
1989 - Céramique Bonsecours : Vieux Montréal
1989 - Conceptart: 9 - Outremont, Québec
1988 - Galerie Christ Delaet: Anvers, Belgique
1987 - Céramique Bonsecours : Vieux Montréal
1986 - Galerie Jillowen : Montréal, Québec
1985 - L'Intrigant: Outremont, Québec
1983 - Galerie La Magie de l'Art : Montréal, Québec
1982- Galerie Kinsman-Robinson : Toronto, Ontario
1980 - Théatre Phoenix : Montréal, Québec
1979 - Galerie Lachasse : Toronto, Ontario
1978 - Galerie Evendim : Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1977 - Galerie Lebouquineur : Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1977 - Galerie IPI: Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1977 - Galerie Brackendale : Brackendale, Colombie Britannique
1976 - Galerie Canvas Company : Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1976 - Théatre York : Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1976 - Galerie Helen Pitt : Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1975 - Galerie SUB : UBC, Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1975 - Galerie d'art de Vancouver : Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1974 - Théatre Reine Elizabeth : Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1973 - Galerie SUB : UBC, Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1973 - Université Simon Fraser: Burnaby, Colombie Britannique
1972 - Galerie d'art de Vancouver: Vancouver, Colombie Britannique
1971 - Galerie SUB : UBC, Vancouver, Colombie Britannique