Native Montrealer, Andre Monet, defies the odds.\u00a0 He is an artist I discovered while\u00a0maneuvering\u00a0the cobble stone streets of Old Montreal last summer where I couldn\u2019t help but notice the massive piece of artwork\u00a0 in a Gallery on\u00a0 St. Paul Street.\u00a0\u00a0 By\u00a0 the time I discovered him,\u00a0 he was well on his way to the big time.\u00a0 The image that made me stop dead in my tracks was none other than the portrait of Travis Bickle portrayed by Robert Deniro\u00a0 in the Oscar winning 1976 film Taxi Driver.\u00a0 Overwhelming, not only in mass, but in the intricacy of each puzzled piece so perfectly placed that it didn\u2019t seem a human being could have produced it.<\/p>\n

Monet\u2019s mixed media art<\/a> of pop culture icons are an assembly of text, aged maps, bits of books and newspaper along\u00a0 with paint\u00a0 and varnish.\u00a0 His masterful and iconic pieces make it inevitable that you\u00a0 gravitate closer to get a up close and personal.<\/p>\n

On an interesting note, more than 30 years ago Andy Warhol painted two portraits, one of Princess Diana and other Prince Charles, which Opera Gallery acquired and\u00a0 auctioned off for 3.1 million earlier this year.\u00a0 With the nuptials of Will and Kate last year, Opera Gallery in \u00a0London then\u00a0 commissioned the 45-year-old Monet to paint the their portraits.\u00a0 The comparison between Monet and Warhol was now inevitable –\u00a0 he is this millennium\u2019s avante guarde version. His portraits are unique to the times, just when you think there isn\u2019t anything \u2018new to be created\u2019 in portraiture \u2013 he creates masterpieces out of bits of paper and lots of hard work and precision.<\/p>\n

Monet studied graphic design at Laval University\u00a0while exploring other mediums in fine art. He worked in fashion and\u00a0advertisement for most of his years, before dedicating himself to be a full time artist, taking the plunge later than most\u00a0 at age 40! Monet has seen much success in recent years and has had his work exhibited in\u00a0Paris, London, New York, Seoul, Singapore, Miami,\u00a0Dubai and Hong Kong. \u00a0When in Montreal his artwork is always featured at\u00a0 Galerie Lydia Monaro \u2013 one of the promoters who first encouraged him and displayed his work.\u00a0 He will have his next vernissage at the same gallery this Spring 2013.<\/p>\n

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+ Andre Monet<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

+ Galerie Lydia Monaro<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Native Montrealer, Andre Monet, defies the odds.\u00a0 He is an artist I discovered while\u00a0maneuvering\u00a0the cobble stone streets of Old Montreal last summer where I couldn\u2019t help but notice the massive piece of artwork\u00a0 in a Gallery on\u00a0 St. Paul Street.\u00a0\u00a0 By\u00a0 the time I discovered him,\u00a0 he was well on his way to the big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":34637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,4706,182],"tags":[6023,6022,6025,6021,6024,6026],"yoast_head":"\n