Draft:Claude-Philippe Benoit

Claude-Philippe Benoit is a Canadian artist, born in Haileybury, Ontario on March 2, 1953. He grew up in Hull, (now Gatineau) Quebec, and graduated from Algonquin College (Ottawa) with a degree in film making in 1975. He later obtained an M.A. in visual arts from Concordia University (1995). He has lived and worked in Montreal since 1990.

Biography
Claude Philippe Benoit began his career in the early 1980s as director of photography in the movie industry. In 1984 he presented his first solo exhibition as a professional artist photographer: L'envers de l'écran, un tourment photographique (roughly translated by The other side of the screen, a photographic torment) influenced by his interest in cinema.

In 1983, he co-founded Axenéo7, a artist-run center in Hull (today, Gatineau), with the goal of providing the visual arts community in Outaouais region a place to host and exhibit contemporary art. In 1986, he also co-founded DAÏMÔN, a production center for the media arts.

The works of Claude-Philippe Benoit have been showed internationally and have been acquired by numerous public collections. They have been reviewed in exhibition catalogues, books, art magazines and newspapers.

In 2016, Les Éditions Cayenne published a monograph on his work.

Work
All the artist’s photographic work is produced using gelatine silver process. The photographs are often assembled in diptychs or triptychs that are sometimes grouped with a three-dimensional element such as an abstract or colour photograph, as in the series entitled Chapitre Ô-NU or the series Intérieur, jour. Claude-Philippe Benoit has also designed installations that include sculpture, e.g. Le noir et son double (1986) and Apparition et absence (1989).

A marked characteristic of the locations that Claude-Philippe Benoit chooses to photograph is the absence of humans, although human activity is frequently evoked. His first series of photographs, L’envers de l’écran, un tournament photographique, focused on movie theaters after the public had left and the projectors had been turned off.

In the series Intérieur, jour, the untamed nature of the rain forest is juxtaposed with various interior scenes, including factory workshops.

Les Lieux maîtres comprises four series that focus on certain places which are emblematic of the exercise of power and the social status of the powerful. The series are entitled Chapitre Ô-NU, Chapitre... du prince, L’étoffe du prince et son éternité, En cour, pour un oui pour un non, and for them, the artist travelled to United Nations headquarters in New York, where he photographed conference rooms, offices, courtrooms, along with workshops of tailors whose principal clients are rich Parisians.

In Société de ville, the urban landscapes depict a city devoid of human inhabitants but filled with autumn vegetation.

In Canada

 * 2010 : Maison de la culture Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal
 * 2008 : Oakville Galleries at Centennial Square, Oakville, (Ontario)
 * 2006 : Axenéo7, Gatineau (Quebec)
 * 2005 : Galerie Lilian Rodriguez, Montreal
 * 2003 : Galerie Lilian Rodriguez, Montreal
 * 2001 : Occurrence, espace d’art et d’essai contemporains, Montréal; Dazibao, Montreal
 * 1998 : VU, centre de diffusion et de production de la photographie, Quebec City
 * 1995 : Linda Genereux Gallery, Toronto; Espace 502, Édifice Belgo, Montreal


 * 1994 : Genereux Grunwald Gallery, Toronto; Laurentian University, Sudbury (Ontario); WKP Kennedy Gallery, North Bay(Ontario)


 * 1993 : The Ottawa Art Gallery (Ontario); Galerie Brenda Wallace, Montreal; Rodman Hall, Brock University, St. Catharines (Ontario), Cinémathèque québécoise, Montreal


 * 1992 : Brenda Wallace, Montréal; Galerie Leonard & Bina Ellen, Concordia University, Montreal


 * 1991 : Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver; The Power Plant, Toronto; Musée régional de Rimouski, Rimouski, (Quebec)


 * 1990 : Galerie Brenda Wallace, Montreal; Gallery 44, Toronto


 * 1989 : VU, centre de diffusion et de production de la photographie, Quebec City; Dazibao, Montreal; Axenéo7, Gatineau (Quebec)


 * 1988 : Galerie du Centre culturel de l'Université́ de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Quebec)
 * 1986 : Gallery 101, Ottawa (Ontario)


 * 1985 : La chambre blanche, Quebec City
 * 1984 : Axenéo7, Gatineau (Quebec)

In Europe

 * 1997 : Musée de Trouville, Villa Montebello, Trouville-sur-Mer, France; Centre d’Art contemporain de Rueil-Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison, France


 * 1996 : Le Printemps de Cahors, Tribunal de la ville, Cahors, France
 * 1989 : Délégation générale du Québec, Paris
 * 1988 : Kijkhuis, The Hague, The Netherlands

In the United States

 * 1990 : 49th Parallel, Center for Contemporary Canadian Art, New York

Public Collections

 * Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa (Ontario)
 * Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Montreal
 * Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria (British Columbia)
 * Canada Council for the Arts, Art Bank, Ottawa (Ontario)
 * Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto
 * Oakville Galleries, Oakville (Ontario)
 * Winnipeg Art Gallery, Winnipeg (Manitoba)
 * Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich (Germany)
 * Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Concordia University, Montreal
 * National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (Ontario)
 * Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City (Quebec)
 * Victoria Confederation Art Gallery, Charlottetown (Prince-Edward-Island)
 * Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal (Quebec)
 * City of Ottawa Art Collection Ottawa (Ontario)