Diaz Contemporary is pleased to present Stéphane La Rue in his second solo show with the gallery. In this body of work, La Rue uses the minimal combination of wood and graphite powder to create constructions that are surprising in their poeticism and in their illusory qualities of depth. Geometric configurations and various intensities of dark graphite both reveal and conceal the natural qualities of the wood. By allowing the materials to display their characteristics, their tendencies, their strengths and their complexity, La Rue pushes them into a poetic relationship with one another, without representing anything outside of what they bring to bear.
La Rue moves past a modernist interest in purity of form into a more physical exploration, in which the structural and pictorial elements reveal their natural grace and expressive potential. The works contain a certain tension, as edges, shadow, and emptiness coalesce and result in a dynamic, expressive space, full of movement.
An MFA graduate from Concordia University (1998), La Rue lives and works in Montréal. He has exhibited extensively, including shows at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Art Gallery of York University, Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montréal and Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec in Quebec City. He is included in the 2011 Quebec Triennial, The Work Ahead of Us, which is at the Musée d’art contemporain until 3 January 2012. His work is in the collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, as well as many corporate and private collections. La Rue is also represented by Galerie Roger Bellemare in Montréal.
  
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