CELEBRATING KINKY, QUEER JOY WITH ALEK BÉLANGER
Alek Bélanger, Visitation, 2022
Alek Bélanger is a French Canadian multidisciplinary artist currently based in Montreal. He mainly works on canvas, but through recent experimentation, he’s found himself drawn to other mediums like photography and film. Alek takes a refreshingly queer approach to his visual communication style, telling stories of love and lust through articulate abstract paintings, raunchy prints reminiscent of Tom Ford-era Gucci ads and other multimedia materials, which sometimes include condoms.
Earlier this summer, Alek held his first solo show in Toronto, where he showcased a selection of works spanning his six-year career. Following the single-day exhibition, we caught up with Alek as he reflected on his most recent series, Noire, and shared some insights into his next endeavours.
Alek Bélanger, "Choose Your Play", 2022
PC: You just had your very first show in Toronto! How does it feel?
AB: It was great. I started my career here. I lived in Toronto for six years. Three years of that was when I started my career in art, so it felt really nice to finally have a solo show in Toronto.
PC: So this was a curated retrospective of everything you've done throughout your career. How did you organize it?
AB: There were three different rooms. I made sure to tell a story in each room. In the first room, there were all my most recent pieces. The second room had my second and third series, and then the last room was my first-ever series. It was so cool to see the transition of the different inspirations I've taken for each series.
PC: It seems like your practice is really revealing who you are.
AB: Yeah, I think it's also the growth of what I like and care for that has shifted too. Now I'm way more into city life and queerness. I love to express my queerness through my art, and I want to talk more about pushing queer expression.
PC: You moved to Montreal roughly two years ago, how has that influenced your work?
AB: It's influenced me a lot. Once I moved there, I was left by myself. No friends. When you're by yourself, you start to ask, “What's my purpose?” I was like, I’m an artist, I have a big responsibility here. I want to see more queer expression through abstractness. That’s the cause that I want to fight for. To open up the conversation about who people are as individuals within their sexualities. How proud you are and how you really see yourself.
PC: Do you feel like that’s brought you closer to a community that you wanted to be a part of living there?
AB: Oh, yes. The community and also buyers. It's kind of crazy. I’ve got way more queer buyers now than ever, which I love. It's the greatest honour, I think it’s also a good sign. I've always had queer friends, but having more queer artists around me is so great. Having more gay buyers who are successful art collectors around me is so crazy and cool.
PC: That must feel so good! Tell me more about the work. Is there a particular feeling or emotion that you notice comes up when you're putting a new piece together?
AB: Because I work in series, I piece together the inspirations for what I want to trigger and what I want to feel like when I paint. My most recent series, Noire, was way more sexual and kinky. People don't talk enough about their kinks and what they like in bed, and I wanted to push that.
PC: That’s a very vulnerable thing to do, publically showcasing something that is so intimate and personal.
AB: Yes, but it inspired me. I realized that there's so much power to being vulnerable. Now I’m kind of addicted to it. I want to be even more vulnerable in my next series.
PC: That’s a huge gift, isn't it? At the show, you were telling me a little bit about what you've got coming up next. Can you talk a little bit about that?
AB: Without giving too much away, the next series will be my portrait series. I bought four gay conversion therapy books. I've read most of each book just to really get a sense of the hatred towards sexuality and homosexuality. It was definitely tough, it took a toll on me. The goal is to take some pages, cross out most of the words and create powerful poetry that celebrates queerness. It’s definitely harder than I thought because there are not a lot of great words in those books, but it's pushing me and I love it. I want to be pushed in my art. If I don't feel insecure at times or feelings of being afraid of failure, then I'm not doing enough. I want to get out of my comfort zone and be able to make something that will speak to me and to others in the future.
PC: How did you stumble upon that idea for this series?
AB: I realized that some books and words can be very hurtful. Words are quite powerful. I thought, “How can words destroy people?” I'm hoping to put the original text beside each work for reference, so people can see that you can take something that's so dark and still try your best to find power through it. There's power in darkness.
Alek Bélanger, "Exhibiting", 2022
PC: That's so beautiful. When are you looking to complete your next series?
AB: My goal is 2024. I have to get it done. I'm going back to my art studio this weekend. I gotta get back into creative mode.
PC: How does Alek Bélanger get into creative mode?
AB: I write. I’ll just write out one word and then synonyms of the theme of the series. Writing different words that trigger the series. With Noire, it was like, wild, sex, porn, game, orgy. I wanted to trigger those emotions and those topics. Now, it's words that are a bit heavier. It’s less playful.
We have a lot of layers within ourselves. I'm a son, I'm a single man, I'm a brother. I've got all different types of titles. It's embracing every single layer that you have. I can be sexual, I can be reflective. For every series, there's a layer that I want to explore within myself because we have endless amounts of them.
PC: I think it's probably a self-perpetuating thing too, where the deeper you dig, the more you learn. Do you feel moving through these layers changes you in the way that you show up in the world?
Alek Bélanger, "Exquisite Self", 2022
AB: It does! Oh my god, when I was doing Noire, I wore leather pants and cowboy boots and I just wanted to go out. I went out all the time, I was listening to sexy music. I started drinking martinis because of that series.
The saddest thing, though, is when the show ends and you take a break for a second and then you start reflecting and reinventing yourself. Shedding it off. After Noire, I was not ready to go. I took some time off for a few months to promote the series, sell it and make money to be able to do the next one. But it was hard. I’d be like, “I don't want her to go, I loved her so much”. But you got to let it go. You got to move on. You can't be sexy 24/7.
PC: It’s almost like each of your series is a lover.
AB: Totally, it's a breakup. You have to break up. With Noire, her name was Stella. She was always kind of tipsy and super intense. She had a life of her own. Thank goodness she’s packed up somewhere. I might revisit her in the future. Only when I'm ready.
PC: I can't wait to meet your next lover. I think this is gonna be a good one for you.
AB: Yeah, a good kisser, good hugger. I think he’s a European hunk that just says “mon amour” every two seconds. That’s the goal.
Learn more about Alek’s work via his website and be sure to follow him and his studio page on Instagram.
