art + objets d'arts + photography

‘La Petite Mort Gallery is Canada’s Coney Island’   – Felipe Bracelis, Curator & Artist (Santiago, Chile) 2013

We have always known when to leave a party, and from day one of operations, our plan was to make the most of this location with a ten-year plan (2005-2015). Today, the reach of our projects has grown in a manner that is out of our hands. We are excited to be able to expand our roots, and moving beyond the confines of a single gallery space. As of the end of August 2015, LPM Gallery concluded operations at the 306 Cumberland building in Ottawa, Canada, and instead focus on its continued work to creating impactful, socially engaged projects that reach across local and international spaces. Naturally, with these shifting priorities, we are transitioning partially into a humanitarian, non-profit model, while still working with our best collectors for continued art & ‘objets d’art’ sales. We now work by appointment, if interested in any art sales & collaboration.

LPM thanks all of its devoted supporters, and anticipates the exciting work that lies ahead.  – Guy Berube, 2015

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CONTACT: guy@lapetitemortgallery.com  

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Guy Berube:   Art Dealer, Curator & Collector.   Portrait by Lynne Anderson.

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Guy Bérubé’s curatorial vision is one of social ethics. He sees the artist’s struggle with self-awareness through visual art reflected back to the viewer not as passive recipient but as active participant in the creative endeavour. A signature feature is the feeling of discomfort many of the projects evoke, which, as is the goal of subversive art, reflects the viewer’s personal projections back upon themself.

This discomfort is a necessary part of Bérubé’s aesthetic and ethical sensibility. It recognizes the role of art in alienation and in critical transformation, for cultural progress is usually provoked by the ideas invoked at the boundaries of our communities. His outlook represents subjects at the margins of contemporary Canadian urban society – the sublime as well as the homeless and the schizophrenic – no different than most mainstream art since the post-Renaissance period. Not here to shock nor to entertain, however, Bérubé as curator, creative director & even as collector, is here to provide an inclusive forum for today’s Canadian & international artists, including those typically sidelined by mainstream society and those simply unable to function normally within it.

He gives the Canadian visual arts community an edge that not only gives art a vehicle for its traditional cultural role, but is acknowledged for giving Canadian Art that edge that contributes to its recognition on the world stage.

Guy Bérubé has been selling works by Canadian and international artists for the past 29 years, previously via La Petite Mort Gallery in Ottawa from 2005 – 2015

and internationally via art projects in New York (USA), Madrid (Spain), Valparaiso & Santiago (Chile), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Los Angeles & Chicago (USA), Amsterdam (Holland) & more.

Bérubé continues to have a strong international focus, continually working to collaborate and bridge dialogue across and between different global spaces. Given that the art world now operates on a global scale, he sees geographical distance as an opportunity to connect across contemporary art scenes, and as a means to develop new ways of representing artists and supporting their careers.

In 2012, Guy organized the first of many exhibitions and workshops outside of Canada including, “Flesh Garden,” in Casa Brandon in Buenos Aires and in Sala 18+ in Santiago de Chili in 2012; “Post Mortem” in Santiago de Chile at la Perrera in 2013; “The Infidels,” at La Trampa Gallery in Mexico City in 2014; and “Flesh Garden,” in collaboration with MILK Studios and Mimik Magazine in Amsterdam’s Red Light District in 2014. Guy travelled to each of these venues, met with directors, curators, artists, other arts professionals, and the press, as well as the many audience members who were interested in seeing the work of Canadian artists. The result of these international projects is that work has been shown in many galleries and collected in dozens of public collections.

Guy Bérubé has showcased the work of a number of international artists at La Petite Mort Gallery, which the assistance of the US Embassy through the US Department of State, including Devin Elijah from New York City;  Alejandro Hugo Dorda Mevs, now living in Berlin; Mimi Chakarova from Berkeley; and Randall Levenson from Miami. These exhibitions have furthered Bérubé’s contacts internationally with both artists and institutions.

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In light of these changes, we are very pleased to announce the continuation of private, individualized art sales & services, a new hybrid venture that combines the curatorial visions & art dealings of Guy Berube. The focus is to produce challenging, socially engaged contemporary art projects with an international perspective. We have no fixed address; but we are everywhere & wherever needed.

This focus is anchored on the spirit previous projects that include Disciples (2014-ongoing), Windows From Prison (2015), User (2007-2011) and Low (2007). Currently, we have created major exhibitions, programs & workshops in Madrid (Spain), New York City (USA), London (England), Toronto (Canada), Amsterdam (Netherlands), Santiago (Chile), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and artist residencies in Puerto Vallarta (Mexico) & Valparaiso (Chile).

We will take on a fluid & organic structure. Individually, we will still be engaged with certain separate, offset projects, however this venture is meant to give direction, focus and public visibility to our collaborative work and shared priorities. Over the past year, across numerous successful international projects, we have realized the creative potential in combining of our individual strengths. Our objective functions to explore this synergy with a new expanded set of curatorial goals, and as always, fantastic art sales.

 – Adam Barbu, Art Critic & Curator

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Lens is the photojournalism blog of The New York Times, presenting the finest and most interesting visual and multimedia reporting — photographs, videos and slide shows. A showcase for Times photographers, it also seeks to highlight the best work of other newspapers, magazines and news and picture agencies; in print, in books, in galleries, in museums and on the Web.

“When Tony Fouhse first exhibited his stylized photographs of crack addicts made on a street corner in Ottawa, Canada, he was unsure what the reaction of the opening-night audience would be. But he knew that some of those in attendance would approve: the subjects themselves. Mr. Fouhse’s photographs put a twist in the ongoing argument about making art out of suffering and making commodities from pictures of misfortune. When his photographs are on view at La Petite Mort, you can see the art inside and the reality outside”.

 – New York Times, July 2009

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“The images presented here are testaments to that specific moment of selection on the part of the real space and cyber space Collector. Like the assiduous 19th collector of the anomalous, the exotic, the antique, the disturbing, these traces of the corporeal (found printed portraits and snapshots) and the intangible (chance encounters with digital images) are removed from their originating contexts to present new disturbing narratives through their adjacency in the 21st century fetishistic cabinet des curiosités.

As beholders, we cannot reconstruct their intrinsic logic (a traumatized body, a presentation of improbable props) and so map our own readings onto them. Our electronic engagement with these dismembered moments creates indelible hallucinations far apart from the intentions of their original creator, and reveals more about our own preoccupations with the uncanny, the iconic, the strange, and the partially remembered”.

Melissa Rombout, Curator (describing my curatorial approach)

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” After a brief explosion of edgy art in the 70’s, Ottawa’s art scene rolled over and went back to sleep. Until Guy Berube arrived in town, that is, with a mission to explore and expose art which otherwise might not have got out of artists’ basements. In doing so, I think two things happened: a) anyone with a mind open to fresh air, was suddenly unable to sleep and b) others tagged along for the ride and La Petite Mort Gallery will have forever changed how art is thought about in this city”

 – Bill Brown, 2015

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“Guy Bérubé’s vision for La Petite Mort is truly – and perhaps surprisingly, given the gallery’s name – a vision of social ethics. He sees the artist’s struggle with self-awareness through visual art reflected back to the viewer not as passive recipient but as active participant in the creative endeavour. A signature feature of La Petite Mort Gallery is the feeling of discomfort many of the artworks evoke, which, as is the goal of subversive art, reflects the viewer’s personal projections back upon themselves.

This discomfort is a necessary part of Bérubé’s aesthetic and ethical sensibility. It recognizes the role of art in alienation and in critical transformation, for cultural progress is usually provoked by the ideas invoked at the boundaries of our communities. LPM artists represent subjects at the margins of contemporary Canadian urban society – the sublime as well as the homeless and the schizophrenic – no different than most mainstream art since the post-Renaissance period. Not here to shock nor to entertain, however, M. Bérubé as LPM gallery owner and director is here to provide an inclusive forum for today’s Canadian artists, including those typically sidelined by mainstream society and those simply unable to function normally within it.

LPM gives the Canadian visual arts community an edge that not only gives art a vehicle for its traditional cultural role, but is acknowledged for giving Canadian Art that edge that contributes to its recognition on the world stage”.

 – PENTHOUSE Magazine

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“In its brief time in operation LPM Gallery has made a significant contribution to the artistic community of Ottawa and has directly influenced 
the current surge in artistic expression in the city. Many of the emerging artists who are now hosting events and showing work around the city can
 credit LPM Gallery with giving them their first shows and encouraging their fledgling careers. LPM Gallery routinely collaborates with other arts 
organizations to encourage and support things like the former Festival X and the current Nuit Blanche. The Gallery is an active partner with groups such
 as The School Photographic Arts in Ottawa to provide classroom and workshop opportunities to increase the skill and competency of artists in the city.

I have personally worked with the owner, Guy Berube, on several fundraising events and am consistently impressed with his willingness to make the
 Gallery space and services available to those trying to do good in the city. Whether it be The Stephen Lewis Foundation, Doctors Without Borders, the
 Smart Justice Network, or adult workshops for clients with mental health issues those trying to improve their community can often count on the
 Gallery to be a willing and supportive partner. LPM Gallery has also provided internship opportunities to numerous fine arts and art history
 students giving them real world experience and resume credentials in an effort to help them find their place in the arts community.

LPM has helped promote the Ottawa area art scene on an international map with collaborations with artists in various countries and has hosted
 numerous shows in collaboration with various Embassies represented in the city. The Gallery now frequently counts amongst its stable international
 artists whose work is award winning.

In an age of big box stores and mega corporations this small independent Gallery has carved out a niche not only for artists who previously might 
have had a challenge finding venues for their work but also in providing a focal point that brings young people into the world of appreciating and
 collecting art. Making attending an art opening a “cool” thing to do has helped nurture the local art scene and, not surprisingly, has been copied
 widely.

I’m not sure there is much more a local business could do to demonstrate its commitment to the local art scene and to local artists. I would suggest that the Gallery has matured in its place in the arts community of Ottawa and recognition of its contribution to the local scene has come due”.

 – Bill Staubi, Philanthropist, Humanitarian & Art Collector, 2015

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“La Petite Mort (a French reference to the tense throes of orgasm) is a befitting name for a gallery with an appetite for the ecstatic. Definitely sexy and committed to indulgence, La Petite Mort is an eclectic ode to diversity. Home to a wide range of contemporary artwork, including paintings, sculptures, photographs, “objets trouvés” & mixed media, the gallery’s owner, Guy Bérubé, is focused on examining the synergy between artistic expression and true design, guided by the principle that the harmony of the two result in the highest form of creation. Constant events at the gallery, such as the ‘One Night Stand’ 24 hour-art-happenings & weekly spots for emerging talent, keep the space consistently vibrant, while stunning exhibits showcase a colorful mix of local, regional & international contemporary talent that will appeal to creative collectors”.

 – Andrew Ritchie, PRESTON Magazine, 2008

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“As contemporary art and industrial design have come to occupy an increasingly larger space in the consciousness of today’s consumers, the line between “design” and “art” continues to blur, even at times to disappear. Consequently, La Petite Mort has created a new space dedicated to exploring this shifting, evolving dialogue. The gallery will present work which bridges these two disciplines, fusing craft and production, art and design, outsider and mainstream, designer and producer. This is an approach which we’ve followed from the early days of being artists and designers, and we are now positioned to pursue it in a much more focused way”.

– Tony Martins, GUERILLA Magazine, 2010

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“Guy Berube (°1962, Utopia, Canada) is an curator who works in a variety of media. By contesting the division between the realm of memory and the realm of experience, Berube absorbs the tradition of remembrance art into daily practice. This personal follow-up and revival of a past tradition is important as an act of meditation.

His works bear strong political references. The possibility or the dream of the annulment of a (historically or socially) fixed identity is a constant focal point. By merging several seemingly incompatible worlds into a new universe, he reflects on the closely related subjects of archive and memory. This often results in an examination of both the human need for ‘conclusive’ stories and the question whether anecdotes ‘fictionalise’ history. His works feature coincidental, accidental and unexpected connections which make it possible to revise art history and, even better, to complement it. Combining unrelated aspects lead to surprising analogies. By manipulating the viewer to create confusion, he focuses on the idea of ‘public space’ and more specifically on spaces where anyone can do anything at any given moment: the non-private space, the non-privately owned space, space that is economically uninteresting.

His works are an investigation of concepts such as authenticity and objectivity by using an encyclopaedic approach and quasi-scientific precision and by referencing documentaries, ‘fact-fiction’ and popular scientific equivalents. In a search for new methods to ‘read the city’, he uses a visual vocabulary that addresses many different social and political issues. The work incorporates time as well as space – a fictional and experiential universe that only emerges bit by bit.
His works are often about contact with architecture and basic living elements. Energy (heat, light, water), space and landscape are examined in less obvious ways and sometimes developed in absurd ways. By using an ever-growing archive of found documents to create autonomous artworks, he formalizes the coincidental and emphasizes the conscious process of composition that is behind the seemingly random works. The thought processes, which are supposedly private, highly subjective and unfiltered in their references to dream worlds, are frequently revealed as assemblages.

His works are on the one hand touchingly beautiful, on the other hand painfully attractive. Again and again, the artist leaves us orphaned with a mix of conflicting feelings and thoughts. By experimenting with aleatoric processes, he often creates several practically identical works, upon which thoughts that have apparently just been developed are manifested: notes are made and then crossed out again, ‘mistakes’ are repeated.
His collected, altered and own works are being confronted as aesthetically resilient, thematically interrelated material for memory and projection. The possible seems true and the truth exists, but it has many faces, as Hanna Arendt cites from Franz Kafka. Guy Berube currently lives and works in Hull”.

  – Synthetic profile & biography created by 500 letters /    www.500letters.org

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Image Credits: The main page slide show are all anonymous/found photographs from my private collection, except for Pierre Molinier (Paris, France), Randal Levenson (Miami, USA) & Bruce of L.A. (Los Angeles, USA). We use found photography believing that the simplest way of judging the true value of a photograph is to take it out of its context.

The Counter: As for the counter (years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds), this simply displays how long it has been since I acquired & sold my first work of art. Basically, how long I’ve been an art hustler. Yeah, it’s been awhile.

CONTACT:  guy@lapetitemortgallery.com   / still active as of June 2023