City artist inspired by the prairie landscape

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This article was published 11/01/2011 (5376 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Take a look out your window into the January sky. Bleak and grey, right?

Not to Roger LaFreniere. To this local artist, the Manitoba prairies are buzzing with colour and movement that have inspired a lifetime of work.

“I love the prairies — the openness of the sky, the softness of the light, the intensity in the winter. There’s so much you can draw from,” said LaFreniere, standing in his studio off St. Mary’s Road.

The French-Canadian is both a painter and sculptor with a nearly 40-year career behind him. While richly layered landscapes have traditionally defined his collection, LaFreniere says his more recent work “concentrates on the deconstruction of the prairie landscape.”

For example, LaFreniere brings out a large, frenetic black and white piece: inspired by tilled soil, he says.

“That’s what these abstractions are all about — the feeling of the landscape.”

It’s easy to see what LaFreniere means when you see his work. Strokes of vivid colour like an evening sunset splash across a canvas as wide as a prairie horizon. The larger LaFreniere paintings stretch over five metres from left to right and hang in some of Winnipeg’s biggest businesses — bringing the aura of prairie nature indoors.

It’s this Manitoba feeling (minus the wind chill) LaFreniere hopes to share when an exhibit of his prairie-inspired abstracts opens at Montreal’s Contemporary Arts Gallery next month.

The exhibit will be small and shared with one other artist, but he says he’s looking forward to seeing his pieces in a space as airy as the gallery. Being inspired by the vastness of the prairies, viewing the abstracts in his modest studio just won’t cut it.

“They need to breathe,” he stressed.

The inspiration provided by prairie horizons isn’t the only reason LaFreniere loves Manitoba, though. Winnipeg is where the heart is.

“I was born across the street from here,” said LaFreniere from his home on Roger Street. “My dad built this house and I moved in when my parents passed away. It’s always been a nice, family-oriented district to live in.”

Though currently covered in snow, LaFreniere’s lawn is decorated with large colourful sculptures that have doubled as a playground for neighbourhood children, including his own.

“They’d make tents, have picnics. I’ve always liked that. I don’t worry about it. I’m not one of these ‘don’t touch’ people,” said LaFreniere.

In addition, LaFreniere has been involved with the Festival Du Voyageur’s annual International Snow Sculpting Symposium for the last 20 years — both as a sculptor and then as a co-ordinator to the many international artists who participate from countries around the world.

LaFreniere’s work will be on display at Montreal’s Contemporary Arts Gallery starting Feb. 11. For more information and to see his work, visit rogerlafreniere.com

 

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