GILLES BÉDARD

Gilles Bedard was born in 1954 in Charlesbourg, a suburb of Quebec City.  He was the second of seven children

He started to draw at an early age and his mother noticed the young Gilles talent and continued to encourage him the draw, and that he did.

Gilles had a career with the Canadian Coast Guard and he was dazzled by the brilliance and   luminescence of the great icebergs, he was marveled by the transparence and the tints of blues and greens of these great spaces of ice.   This was the first time he was witness to the colours of the midnight sun and the light of the sun reflecting on the ice.

After four years at sea, Gilles was even more driven by the need to paint.  He searched to find places to paint, which reminded him somewhat of the brilliance and transparency of the colour he found in the far north ice fields.   He found it in Charlevoix.  He was twenty-eight years old and was drawn to paint the fascinating landscapes of the region.

Self-taught, seduced by different bents that, now harmonize, now clash, it is through years of relentless work that Gilles has elaborated a very personal technique in his style which renders his oeuvre most interesting. In addition to a dazzling palette of colours of an unparalleled purity, Gilles greens are extraordinary and are recognized by the artistic milieu to be of unequalled beauty. His greens emerge from the light of the morning. It is in effect at the break of day that Gilles takes advantage of the multiple varieties of the tints of green. For him this is the best time of day to discover the most lovely and most varied of tints and it is also the moment when the light makes them best
come out.

Bédard’s work, having achieved maturity, has become a rare example of luminescence.