Louis Boudreault

Louis Boudreault is renowned for his uniquely layered portraits, created with paper and graphite, that honour the living and immortalize the dead. He was born in 1956 at Havre-Aubert, Îles de la Madeleine in Québec. After studying literature and theatre, he left home and enrolled at the École du Louvre in Paris to study fine art. In 1991, he began to work as a full time artist. In 1998 Boudreault made the significant move back to Québec, where he established his studio in Montréal.

Most recently he is known for creating works that depict the faces of some of the most legendary figures in history, not as we instantly recognise them, but instead from when they were children. In contemporary art we are well accustomed to images that celebrate equally contemporary heros and heroines of all kinds. We are also familiar with the fascination of old photographs. Louis Boudreault’s enlarged portraits speak of memories and destinies and appeal to our innate sense of the sacredness of genius and power. They show genius and power in embryo, but unmistakably present. This is what makes them particularly memorable, and they linger in the mind.

In his latest series, WANTED, Boudreault depicts these famous figures, as adults, in mug shots. This exciting new body of work portrays icons who have for one reason or other have spent time in prison. These works are immediately very impressive in scale, setting the subject in the time they were arrested, adding details such as the name of the prison, the height scale, and an ominous light suggesting an interrogation room. In WANTED, Louis Boudreault reveals to us that even the very best people have spent time in ”the box” we know as prison.