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ABOUT

Wartin Pantois lives and works in the Saint-Roch district in Québec City, Canada. He holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in sociology from the Université Laval.

Wartin Pantois’ artistic work highlights various human realities. His sensitive, socially committed site-specific interventions stem from social concerns, conversations with citizens and on-site observations. His work pieces take to the public space to give voice to the silenced, to foster reflections and debates.

“We all build ourselves some protection, to avoid feeling or seeing what would otherwise disturb us. It’s like a shell. Sometimes a little incentive is needed for people to open their eyes. Art in the public space can be that incentive. Through my interventions, I try to touch that little piece of humanity that everyone has inside. An unexpected artwork can be a useful intermediary. I think that the surprise of seeing an unexpected artwork at the corner of a street can possibly outplay the shell.” (free translation of an excerpt of Québec Hebdo newspaper’s interview with Wartin Pantois in October 2016).

Using black and white in contrast with the colour-saturated advertisments, Wartin Pantois includes gold leaf in some of his works to question the value given to people and things. The locations of his works are carefully chosen. The places give meaning to his images and, reciprocally, his images give meaning to the places.

Wartin Pantois is a citizen involved in his community, a street artist, a painter and a photographer. He has also produced many musical projects. His artistic interventions have been covered by the local and national media.