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OMEN / HEARTFELT

August 23 to October 28, 2018

HEARTFELT by OMEN. Photo: Elias Touil

OMEN - HEARTFELT

OMEN'S WORKS HAVE BEEN PART OF MONTREAL'S URBAN LANDSCAPE FOR TWENTY YEARS

Like many street artists, OMEN favours aerosol paint, but stands out with an artistic treatment that blurs the boundaries between graffiti and established contemporary art. Unlike some more rebellious works of urban art, OMEN’s murals are soothing and poetically charged, enticing the observer to an unexpected reverie. With his mastery of colour gradients, shadows and light and ephemeral lines, he has been a powerful advocate for the recognition of aerosol paint as a true artistic medium.

“At no other time in history has there been a movement rallying around a medium. Acrylics, tempera, oil paints, none of these have brought artists together like aerosols. I hope that I can inspire a younger generation of artists to use the medium to push artistic boundaries and express themselves.”


Artist Biography

Omen’s been setting things straight. Since the late 90′s, Omen has been blurring the boundaries between graffiti and street art with his singular style of painting, both on and off the streets. Using spray paint as his primary medium, he has been leading the aerosol movement towards a truce with the established art world. Omen’s style is immediately recognizable: often cast in stark black and white, his murals and canvases have a haunted quality about them.

His use of negative space and ephemeral but controlled lines allows one to enter his paintings in a way that few street artists do. Over the last decade, the aerosol medium has exploded into the mainstream. No other medium has met with such resistance in its quest to be accepted as a valid form of expression, and at no other time in history has there been a movement rallying around a medium. Acrylics, tempera, oil paints: none of these has brought artists together like aerosol.

Aerosol is a medium like any other and is a valid vehicle for expressing oneself, whether through realism, expressionism, cubism or any other style. As Omen says, “As long as I’m painting with aerosol, I hope that I can inspire a younger generation of artists to use the medium to push artistic boundaries and express themselves.”

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Media relations

Marie Lamoureux | marie.lamoureux@quartierdesspectacles.com | 514 923-6772