Sylvain Roberge

Québécois artist Sylvain Roberge brings a rare combination of academic precision and intuitive creativity to his vibrant paintings. Born in 1976 in Val-des-Sources in southeastern Quebec, he moved to Victoriaville at age seven following his mother’s death. Though he began oil painting at eleven, art truly captured him at sixteen when he resumed lessons in portraiture with dry pastels. He went on to study Fine Arts at Dawson College in Montreal, knowing then that painting would be his life’s work.
Today, Roberge is considered a true visionary because his work transcends trends and fads. He works with encaustic, a wax-based medium originating with the ancient Greeks over 3000 years ago. The technique requires vigorous application and expressive brushwork, and because it dries so quickly, his gestural strokes inject what he calls the Energy Line into each piece. He builds texture by allowing hot beeswax to drip in multiple layers, creating an almost three-dimensional effect. In his Glamour Girls series, Roberge celebrates the eternal muse of women through warm colors, modular touches, and carefully chosen accessories that convey both outward sensuality and discrete interiority.
Roberge’s work was exhibited at the International Art Expo in New York in March 2011, and he won the 2008 Price of Artist Recruitment Award from the Cimon Galleries in Quebec. His paintings are part of the Osum Oil Sands Corporation’s collection in Calgary, Alberta, and he is represented by Park West Gallery.