Steven Spazuk

Home: Léry, Québec
Title: Danielle 3
Media: Soot on paper / suie sur papier
Dimensions: 196 x 152 cm
Website: www.spazuk.com

For the past 10 years, I have developed and perfected a unique technique that allows me to use the flame of a candle as a pencil to create my paintings with trails of soot. Using various tools, I intuitively sculpt the plumes of soot left behind on paper in response to the shapes that appear or I create portraits by a process of removing the soot to bring light and life to faces.

Danielle 3 is a portrait of my love. Last year, at 48, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. We felt the fear, the shock and the panic but we chose a spiritual healing path with an immense gratitude for our love and our life. With the unfailing support of family and friends, Danielle courageously went through a long and trying process to fight the cancer: chemotherapy, mastectomy, radiation. Nine months later, she is reborn a warrior. She now bears a scar that marks the passage of cancer in our lives and her victory over the darkness of the disease. She went from deep shadows to emerge into light.

When she lost her hair during her chemotherapy, I collected it and fashioned different brushes with which I scratched the light into her face, her eyes, for this portrait. It is a process of illumination that mirrors her healing. It is my healing…

(If more information is required on my painting technique with the soot, a demonstration is available in a short documentary on my work at: www.spazuk.com)

2011 Honourable Mention

EDUCATION:
1983 B.F.A. in Visual Arts, Université Laval, Québec

SOLO EXHIBITIONS:
2010 SPAZUK, 2M2 Gallery, Montreal, Canada.
2005 Spazuk, Gallery Twenty-Four, Berlin, Germany.
2003 SAS Gallery, Montreal, Canada.
2002 Trace, ou présence d’absence, Montcalm Gallery, Hull, Canada.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:
2009 Art Biennale Internazionale Chianciano, Italy.
2007 Biennale Internazionale dell’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy.
2005 Galerie d’art Quartier Libre, Montreal, Canada.
2000 Stratford 2000, Stratford Gallery, Stratford, Canada.

AWARDS:
2009 Leonardo da Vinci Award, Painting Third Place, Art Biennale Internazionale Chianciano, Italy.
2007 Lorenzo il Magnifico Prize, Mixed Media Fourth Place, Biennale Internazionale dell’Arte Contemporanea, Florence, Italy.

EMPLOYMENT:
1987-91 Cofounder/creative director-Tam-Tam communication.
1990-93 Founder and creative director-Tarzan
1993- Freelance art director and graphic designer.

OTHER INFORMATION:
2009-2010 Invited guest/performing artist, Centre Eaton Montreal, Nuits Blanches de Montréal
2010 SPAZUK, Steven; MADDEN Amy, “SPAZUK”, self-edition of 200 page hard cover art book.