John Lanthier: Hyperdoodler

Visual Art – Montréal

I’m a young French-Canadian artist/illustrator currently studying Painting & Drawing at Concordia University. I was born in and traveled extensively throughout Asia as a child, which left a lasting impression on me and my work. I enjoy experimenting widely with a range of media and pushing the boundaries of painting by incorporating tactile and motile elements within my works. My latest series I call HYPERDOODLING or SUPERGRIFFONNAGE en francais. These obssesive, hallucinogenic artworks chart my pursuit for a new aesthetic and freedom of expression in my drawing and painting. Using a variety of media, I apply phantasmagorical forms and patterns to whatever nonconventional 3D surface presents itself. So far, this has included 21 electric and acoustic guitars, many skateboards, fan blades, wheels, tables, panels,a cello and a snowboard. Not ideologically constrained by the boundaries of the individual unique support, the continuing theme flows smoothly from composition to composition… They are inspired by a mish-mash of sources, including street art, pop art, abstraction, surrealism, psychedelia, the decorative arts and everybody’s notebook doodles. Abstract, metallic, biomorphic, vegetal and bodily forms clash and interweave in a parallel universe of complex robotics, warped architecture, endless roads and primary colors. The intricate under-drawings, which are the basis of each composition, I fabricate without the use of an eraser ever, each pencil line being made confidently and taken for a long twisted walk where anything can and will happen.