Laurence Nerbonne

Born in Outaouais, and living and working in Montreal, this self-taught multidisciplinary artist focuses on the human figure as her visual inspiration. Represented by the Thompson Landry Gallery since 2008, Laurence Nerbonne has paintings in collections all over North America and Europe, as well as in the Juno Awards permanent art collection.  The artist took a five-year hiatus to focus on her musical career and has returned to painting with her new series, HIGHLY SENSITIVE.

Nerbonne uses acrylic paint, and her mastery of chiaroscuro, to bring to life her portraits of large dimension. She carefully chooses subtle yet powerful colours to express the emotional landscape of each of her subjects. Her canvases are inhabited by characters that emerge from the surrounding darkness, bathed in a fixed light. Using shadows to create a powerful contrast of light and dark, Nerbonne conveys striking portraits wrought with emotion. The subjects, male or female carry a raw humanity rooted in their intense gaze. Nerbonne captivates the viewer creating an intimate, personal connection through the authenticity and rawness of her characters.

Through careful scrutiny, Nerbonne paints beyond the superficial and captures the very essence of her models. It is in the stripping down of their identity that Nerbonne reveals the characters true natural state; as her inspiration affirms, "The face carries the mark of the soul that it hides."