Inside Manuel Mathieu’s Parisian studio | Never too busy to paint

Montreal artist Manuel Mathieu has been in Paris since the end of September. We met him in his studio in Montmartre, where he is working on the publication of his second collection of drawings. Drawing, meeting artists, planning exhibitions, Manuel Mathieu is busy in Paris. And he obviously couldn’t resist painting…

Montmartre

Manuel Mathieu is staying until the end of February at the Cité internationale des arts, on the heights of Paris. A vast wooded area including workshops reserved for artists of all specialties and nationalities. It was the French foundation Art Explora that invited him to reside in the heart of this bucolic landscape of Montmartre where Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, Picasso and Modigliani lived.

“It was Hans Ulrich Obrist, the artistic director of Serpentine, in London, who contacted me and gave my name to Art Explora, says Manuel Mathieu. And I was taken! I wasn’t looking for a residency, but Hans Ulrich is someone important. I thought maybe it was fate. It allows me to carry out my book project and meet people from different backgrounds. So I’m happy! »

Lively and curious, Manuel Mathieu is also interested in perfumery. He therefore took advantage of his stay in France to go to Grasse, the world capital of perfume located in the south of France. “I also met Julien Creuzet, who will represent France in the 60^e Venice Biennale, in 2024.

book project

It is above all drawing that occupies Manuel Mathieu in his studio, since it is for this project of a book on his drawings that he is in Paris. “The residency forced my hand a bit, otherwise I would be painting in my Montreal studio! he says.

The project is the continuity of the collection Manuel Matthew 1, self-published in 2018. “I told myself from the start that I would produce a collection of drawings every five years until I died. Five years later, I’m concentrating on preparing for number 2.”

The idea of ​​collections published regularly has the value of a trace. The series – which he hopes will be long! – will one day allow us to observe the evolution of his work. “Drawing is very important to me,” he says. Even if the contemporary context does not necessarily value drawing, to be consistent with my practice, I decided to create this space for drawing. »

In the first collection, there was a preamble with a text by the Haitian poet James Noël and, in the postamble, an interview with the French art critic Jérôme Sans. “For the second collection, I approached the wife of the Martinican poet Édouard Glissant [1928-2011], Sylvie Glissant, to write the poem at the beginning of the book, and for the interview, it will also be a woman. I am also thinking about whether the collection will still be only in French or if it will also be in English and Creole. »

The Parisian studio

Manuel Mathieu’s Paris studio is a small apartment, big enough for a pleasant stay and ideal for drawing alone. The artist showed us some drawings made for his new collection with papers of different textures. “Drawing starts when you choose your paper,” he says. I like particular papers, which have a nice memory when you fold them. »

Since the beginning of the month, however, he has not been able to prevent himself from getting back to painting. What he calls his “work”. Drawing is something else! So he was very excited when we met at the end of December. “I ordered stretchers and paint. Three months without painting, I missed it! Painting organizes my mind. If I don’t paint, there’s a problem! Before leaving Paris, I hope I will have made three large paintings and three small ones, according to three approaches that I want to put forward. »

great freedom

Paris will have done good to Manuel Mathieu. This residency has refreshed his mind and opened up new horizons, he says. He took the opportunity to plan an exhibition that he will present in 2025 at the Max Ernst Museum, in Germany. And he was able to create freely. “I don’t have any big stakes right now. I am not obliged to sell even if my galleries [Londres, Pékin, Montréal et Chicago] are always ready to receive paintings. However, he will be exhibiting new works in Hugues Charbonneau’s booth during Plural (the former Papier fair) in April in the Old Port of Montreal.

And he will continue, with the Montreal workshop Mosaika, the creation of his five huge mosaic mural works commissioned for the REM station Édouard-Montpetit. An activity for which he will work full-time upon his return to Montreal in March.

“It’s going to be huge, this work,” he said. It’s almost too much ! In addition, it is in a university, so the work will rub shoulders with the future every day. I like this idea. »