Artist: Sandra Chevrier
Title: 'La Cage, si tu es pris de mer'
Medium: Mixed Media on Canvas
Size: 24 x 18 Inches (25.5 x 20.5 Framed)
Year: 2014
Notes: Hand Signed on Front and Hand Signed, Dated and Titled on Verso.
Sandra Chevrier is a distinguished Canadian contemporary and pop urban artist renowned for her captivating portraits of women, a hallmark of her iconic 'The Cages' series. Born in 1983, Chevrier earned her Bachelor's degree in visual and media arts from UQAM – L’Université du Québec à Montréal. As a self-taught artist, Sandra's love affair with art began in her childhood, where it swiftly transformed into a language of its own. Initially, her drawings often centered around eyes, an early obsession that continues to permeate her current work. Sandra affectionately refers to herself as a 'gaze collector,' and her art reflects a profound dichotomy or dance between power and fragility, freedom and captivity, poison and cure.
Her artistic prowess has not remained confined within borders; it has transcended boundaries and resonated globally. Sandra's artworks have found their way into the cherished collections of art enthusiasts worldwide, affirming her enduring impact on the contemporary art scene.
Sandra's creations explore a diverse spectrum of emotional enigmas and concepts, challenging the norms of modern communication and laying bare the constraints of our world, the self-imposed expectations we harbor, and the metaphorical cages that hinder us from embracing the fullness of life's experiences. Beneath the surface of her portraits lies a profound narrative, where the fantastical heroics and iconography of comic books intertwine with the harsher, underlying tragedy of oppressed female identity and the superficial illusions that often veil it.
Beyond the portrayal of a male-dominated world within her 'Cages,' Chevrier's subjects boldly reject the predefined roles assigned to women, refusing to conform to the seductive or victimized archetypes. Instead, they challenge societal limitations, exposing the corruption of true beauty and the confinement of women within narrowly defined and highly codified identities. In this process, these women are elevated to nothing short of superheroines.
Sandra's masterful portraiture is marked by meticulous detail, seamlessly bringing her subjects to life from a surreal world onto the canvas. In her work, a mesmerizing dance unfolds between reality and imagination, truth and deception. The artist chooses to illuminate the fragility inherent in superheroes, emphasizing their struggles and vulnerabilities while revealing the underlying humanity within the superhuman. Beneath the playfulness and the iconic 'CRASH BAM POW' of the superhero persona, lies a profound truth—superheroes, too, are fragile. They are, after all, embodiments of human men and women, entitled to their flaws and imperfections.