Interview : Luigi Liberatore - Collector - Elmag Investissement

*Champlain CHAREST, Collector

Extract from the biography "Anne Richer rencontre..."

Champlain Charest, doctor, restaurant owner, renowned wine collector and avid art collector, was a close friend of Jean-Pierre Riopelle, with whom he shared passions such as fishing and hunting. Riopelle's paintings are prominently featured on the walls of the restaurant the two acquired together in 1974, the Bistro à Champlain located in Sainte-Marguerite-du-Lac-Masson, which also houses an impressive 35,000 bottle wine collection. The two men met in Paris in 1968 and remained close throughout the years.

Passionate by nature, he is deeply committed to the things he loves. One can imagine him seated around a table with Riopelle discussing how to change the world or simply conversing about hunting or art. His loves are shattering. Who better than him to draw parallels between the talent of the two artists since having been recently introduced to and been seduced by Carson's art?

When he first met the artist and viewed his work he sensed, to quote him, "a force, a great force". " To me, Carson's mosaic style reminds me of Riopelle's paintings in the 1950's. The strokes of the pallet knife and progression to a well-defined place create an order, a focal point converging towards the centre of the painting, a feature unique to abstract artists. Thus, to me, the light comes from behind the painting, passes through it and projects to the viewer." Should we compare the two artists and simply content ourselves with this overview of their works and their strengths?

" In Carson's works, there is a multi-colored scheme that one does not find in Riopelle's paintings. Take the reds or the blues for example; with Riopelle the painting was almost entirely one or the other. With Carson, there is a density of different colors that distinguishes him from Riopelle. It is a veritable proliferation. "

Champlain Charest wishes to be more precise: " Of course, Riopelle used many colors but the finished painting reveals fewer strokes of the pallet knife and less color in each stroke. In my opinion, it takes extraordinary skill to accomplish this result. "

Although he does not profess to be an expert of the caliber of an art historian or critic, he insists on his eye for "favorites" that justifies all his investments in art. "Not only is he skilled in the disposition of colors, but his paintings speak to me. Among other things, I like the balance of the masses and the transparency. I am particularly fond of his paintings in the Carsonism style, which will bring him great honor..."

He concludes in admiration: " The paintings are very dense, very strong, he repeats, and omnipresent.

It leaves others somewhat in his shadow..."

"Here is a man guaranteed to succeed!"

*Anne Richer, writer and journalist for La Presse newspaper since 1968. *Over the course of the past several years, she has presented profiles of hundreds of men and women, builders, leaders and heroes of our time: CARSON HIS LIFE HIS WORK .

Source: Carson sa vie son oeuvre / Edition Americor Media/ 2009