From the violent brushstrokes that captured Rita Letendre’s youth on canvas to the soft fading lines in her more recent prints, the contemporary artist said the exhibition gave her a retrospective look at her career and her life.
Themes and Variations, a selection of Letendre’s work from 1965 to 1997, is one of the three summer exhibitions on display at the Carleton University Art Gallery (CUAG).
“When I look back at the work that I did, I did a hell of a lot of stuff,” Letendre said with enthusiasm, looking out at her works before her artist talk at the exhibition launch May 9.
Letendre, a recipient of the 2010 Governor General’s Award in Visual Arts and Media, said she has always considered herself an Automatiste. Les Automatistes were a group of artists who produced in-the-moment works in rebellion against religion and establishment in Quebec between the 1940s and 1950s.
Curator Diana Nemiroff wrote Letendre was introduced to the group while Letendre, now in her 80s, was in her early 20s.
“That’s when I discovered what is art,” Letendre said in reference to her involvement with Les Automatistes. “You do things as you feel it, simply, without any preconceived ideas,” she said.
