Jean Lantier

Jean Lantier was born in 1953 in Quebec City. He graduated from the École des arts visuels at Université Laval in 1976. He combined painting, sculpture and prints to create pieces adhering to the installation art current. He was awarded several scholarships and studied in Paris and New York. His career essentially developed in Quebec. His pieces are showcased in solo and collective exhibitions, as well as Quebec museum collections.
Jean Lantier develops upon ambiguity, juxtapositions, contrasts and the complementary aspect of elements in a given space. He pays particular attention to various textures which can be smooth, ribbed, granulative or chiseled. These textures provide color to the sober-shaped sculptures, created following a minimalistic approach.
The individual sculptures often present a range of autonomous fragmented or divided volumes which form an whole. The artist simultaneously plays on the regularity of shapes and volumes, but also on the variations, inversion and sheer delinquency of the elements’ order in a defined space.
The materials and techniques vary from one piece to the other, but they always invite the observer to reflect upon the relation between physical and mental space. Lantier’s art relates to contemplation; a form of intimacy is created even though his pieces are often very large, allowing the observer to discover their different subtleties.