A Canadian artist is breaking boundaries with work that challenges how we see nature and evolution. Laur Pilon, born in 1990 and based in Montreal and St. Catharines, creates oil paintings that explore what they call "paleo-ecological compositions" from a unique perspective that combines transgender, queer, and disability viewpoints.
Pilon builds their paintings through many layers of oil paint. This slow process creates eroded, topographical pieces that blur the lines between figures and backgrounds. Their recent exhibition "Earthly" showcases works that provide material abstractions that fragment and obscure references to the natural world. Their colorful, sometimes psychedelic works resist putting humans at the center of nature and instead show how all living things are connected.
The artist's work has gained serious attention across Canada. Their paintings have been acquired by major institutions including the National Gallery of Canada and the Art Gallery of Ontario. They're also part of corporate collections at Hydro-Québec and the Royal Bank of Canada. Pilon is represented by Galerie Nicolas Robert, which has hosted several of their solo exhibitions.
In 2023, Pilon's solo show "Benthic Ravers" opened at Sargent's Daughters in New York, bringing their work to international audiences. Other notable exhibitions include "A Scape Unnamed" and "Holo(geo)biont" in Montreal.
Pilon holds an MFA from the University of Guelph (2021) and a BFA from Concordia University (2015). They're currently pursuing a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities at Brock University, where they're researching how painting can connect to posthumanist theories under the supervision of Dr. Christine Daigle.
Their academic achievements include receiving the Joseph-Armand-Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship and the Betty Goodwin Prize. Pilon's current thesis, "Queer, Trans and Crip Abstractions: Painting as a Mode of Posthumanist Performativity," reflects their commitment to combining artistic practice with academic research.
Through both art and scholarship, Pilon continues to disrupt traditional understandings of landscape painting and challenge viewers to see the natural world in new ways.
