Gallery AKA-Corno

You will find one artist on the walls of Gallery AKA: Corno. An artist who began her career in Montreal, she is now based in New York and has achieved international success. I sat down with Linda Corriveau, gallery director, about the gallery and the artist she represents.

"Corno has been a painter for 30 years. I was working with her in New York before opening this gallery," she said.

"I've been here 2 years. We were so focused on the international market that now at last she can turn her interest back to Montreal. She was away for 25 years," said Corriveau.

Corno was born in Chicoutimi and completed a BFA at the Université du Québec a Montréal. She began living off her paintings at the age of 23. She was the featured artist for Cirque du Soleil's London performance of Alegria. She has adorned the same walls as Georgia O'keefe and Salvador Dali.

As I look around the gallery, I am struck by the strength and beauty of her portraits. They have a very punk look to them as the hair of many of these figures are multicolored: red, purple, orange, yellow - like they have just had a hairstyle at Coupe Bizarre on St-Laurent blvd.

"I get the works directly from the studio. It allows the public in Montreal to become abreast of her most recent works. Her career started in Montreal, but she lives in Soho in NYC for 16 years now. It inspires her. She has been living from her art for 30 years, " she said.

"She is known as an intense colorist who combines the figurative with more abstract ( described as new expressionist on the website). She works big; focuses on faces and torsos, large scale close ups. She is doing more and more murals... dyptichs, tryptichs."

I commented they were very expressive.

"She is represented around the world. She went to NYC with a dream."

And she succeeded.

2122 Crescent
Montreal, Qc.

http://www.akagallery.com/