Rock Therrien creates upbeat paintings in which iconic characters take centre stage in a vintage setting highlighted with touches of luminous neon.
Drawing inspiration from fragments of his life Rock is particularly influenced by the movies, music and animation of his childhood as well as by his travels around the world and the status of popular culture in different societies. Each work is conceived as a complex message to be unravelled, and every painting tells a story. We are invited to look closely and read the clues – to interpret what we see in our own way. First, our attention is captured with the accessible and familiar subject matter and distinctive palette. Then, he attempts to make us smile with those amusing touches that divert us from everyday life. Finally when we are drawn in, we start to see deeper into what the artist is telling us in his highly personal visual language. As one collector pointed out, “First he makes you smile, then he makes you think."
After nearly 20 years as a successful artist, Rock has built a formidable following around the world including Gordon Ramsay, Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber and Dale Hunter, as well as high profile corporations and private collectors. He has participated in many solo and group exhibitions in North America and Canada, Europe, Singapore, Hong Kong, and in 2013, his work featured in "A Piece of Canada in Dubai", at the Opera Gallery in Dubai.
Today, he primarily creates paintings featuring familiar characters in amusing and wacky situations in which viewers can often recognize themselves. For each painting, Therrien conceives a situation that he sketches on canvas beforehand. He then works the materials and colours using a painting technique that he developed over time. Sanding his paintings creates a highly textured surface and reinforces the idea that his characters live in a bygone era.
Passionate about his work and motivated by a desire not only to paint, but to communicate with his audience he says: "Painting never seemed obvious to me, but when it catches hold of you, it pushes you to go further and to enter into the heart of both yourself and others”.
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