Painter of Neo-landscapes

Distilling the essence of the land, 
offering a stripped-down interpretation of it. 

Lines of ink, finely, patiently added to the bare canvas by Karine Locatelli’s hand (and brush) begin to build up, blur, glow, form an intriguing and hypnotic visual language. You can feel the tradition in her art; that of the calligrapher and the topographer in the form, that of the landscape painter in the background. Because that’s entirely the subject: The nature in Charlevoix, adopted home of the artist now based in Les Éboulements who, as her career began, made the rare move of choosing the rural, regional life, rather than city life with its galleries, its artists’ centres, and its museums. A choice that makes sense in terms of Karine’s process and her lifestyle. This woman who fishes, who picks mushrooms, like the mushrooms made of clay one finds in her work, this woman who loves to experiment, to connect media to her main field of practice. A practice that ­became quite successful when her empty, stripped, ink-scribbled canvasses - here hanging without a frame, there mounted in a circular frame - find their place, in galleries, it’s true, but also in the collections of Hydro-Québec, the TD Bank in Toronto, the David Suzuki Foundation, and the Musée d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul contemporary art museum. An institution which, moreover, opened the doors of its great hall in 2024 for an exhibition of her work entitled Dehors [Outdoors] alongside those of Bruno Côté, one of Quebec’s great painters, who built his own career painting landscapes, including those found in Charlevoix. The kind of thing not found on many of today’s young ­artists’ CVs. It’s that she found fertile ground for her practice in the Baie-Saint-Paul ­region, because Charlevoix has been the inspiration for “plein air” painters as far back as the famed Group of Seven. To this, add a community of artists that’s always renewing itself, that collaborates, that talks her name up; the kind of group spirit and initiative that pleases one who also enjoys devoting her time to art education projects. You always feel that Karine is sincerely “there,” that she is present, involved, and giving, in everything she does. Maybe it's the art of the present moment and of connection developed by the number of hours spent concentrated on the act of layering her lines on paper in repetitive, meditative gestures that come close to pointillism.

From the studio all the way to New York; 
Landscape painting that evokes poetry.

Looking at Karine Locatelli’s work, you’re allowed to wonder what a wider view is and what, on the other hand, is viewed in close-up. But, mostly, it’s the poetry that emerges. Poetry that Karine hopes serves as a reflection on the environment, and on the relationship to the land. To be properly immersed in her work and in her discourse, we visit her in her studio/gallery along the river road at the centre of the des Éboulements village. Under the mansard roof which, with matching red exterior walls, resembles a farmhouse, we talk, we assess the significance of the artist at work, we ­enjoy the artwork that has not yet found its way to any gallery. Between fields, rivers, and mountains, it’s a small haven she comes back to with joy and a sense of tranquility on her return from exhibitions and artistic residencies outside of Charlevoix’s borders. Last winter in New York, following a residencies of several weeks, she created work for a group exhibition. If the momentum is well and truly there, and doors are opening to allow more people access to her art (like those in New York), Karine Locatelli remains true to herself, to her desire to remain connected to the land and, time and again, to choosing the simple life in the countryside both as inspiration and daily habit.