From Morocco to Nepal, the works of Danaé Brissonnet have traveled the world. Specializing in the creation of murals, the Quebec artist recently transposed her imagination onto a large wall in Longueuil, at the corner of Chemin de Chambly and Rue de Gentilly.
A light rain fell in the morning on September 23, while Danaé Brissonnet gave advice to a group of around twenty 3rd year students from the Armand-Racicot school, who had come to decorate the bottom of the new work.
Visibly at ease with young people, the artist has a smile on her face when she talks about the “magic” that groups of students bring to her painting.
“I make them do illusions. In my murals, there’s never anything normal, it’s always a guy with the head of something or a nose that’s going to be a bird, so I want them to do something weird, of imagination. And I find that children find it very easy to be creative. I find it so beautiful to witness this,” she expresses.
We also find in several of his murals a space reserved for children’s drawings.
Painting spicy
The young people come to put the finishing touches on the large mural, which takes up the entire side wall of the building located at 880, chemin de Chambly.
Colorful and surreal, the work is intended to be a sort of balance between life and death.
The mural takes up the entire wall adjacent to the PFK restaurant, at the intersection of Chemin de Chambly and Rue de Gentilly. (Photo: Le Courrier du Sud ‒ Michel Hersir)
“It weighs a little on birth, the beginning and the end, the reconnection with nature. That’s why in the work, there is a graffiti that was kept, because it was the work of a young graffiti artist who died and I wanted to bring back a little hope and youth with the children who paint the last wave of the ocean, where the fish with the graffiti on it floats,” describes Danaé Brissonnet.
The bright colors stand out all the more on this gray day and are intended to be a striking contrast to the white 1973 building, which is showing its age.
This dazzling side can be found in all of his murals. The artist attributes it to his family, in particular to his grandmother who came from the West Indies and to his mother who always painted.
“I’ve traveled the world a lot too. Mexico, Latin America. And just being in the West Indies, the colors are so bright, deep, so intense. I think I was imbued with that at a very young age,” she explains.
Plus, the muralist doesn’t hate getting her hands dirty to create all these colors.
“I like painting for people, but also, my moment is mixing colors. That’s why I’m always full of paint. It’s like I’m cooking and I like cooking spicy!” she illustrates.
3rd grade students from Armand-Racicot school decorated the bottom of the mural with their drawings. (Photos: Le Courrier du Sud ‒ Michel Hersir)
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