L’Œuvre de Dieu II (God’s Artwork II)

L’Œuvre de Dieu II (God’s Work II) continues an exploration born from an encounter with a particular rock discovered while hiking along the St. Lawrence River at Pointe-des-Monts, on Quebec’s North Shore. Its strata, cracks, junctions, and shifts in colour already formed an abstract composition of remarkable complexity.

At the time, texture and colour had taken on an important role in the creative process, often replacing drawing and allowing for a less controlled form of expression. In the presence of this rock, the need to draw returned. Back in the studio, the desire to convey this encounter brought together two aspects of the process: the experience gained through matter and colour, and a renewed use of line.

In this second work, the broad lines in the foreground lead the eye toward the rock formations at the centre. Pale surfaces meet darker passages and orange tones, recalling the many variations observed in the stone. The composition creates the impression of moving closer to the rock and entering its inner structure.

For the first time in this artistic journey, an encounter with nature gave rise to the feeling of being a student before a master. This master was Creation—nature itself. Rather than reproducing the rock faithfully, the work seeks to convey the awakening and artistic calling brought about by its discovery.

Together with L’Œuvre de Dieu, this painting marks the beginning of the Stratis collection, devoted to strata, the transformations of matter, and the traces left by time.