Painting offers me what is most fantastic in life: moments of discovery, surprise and reflection. It has become my rite of passage to a world where everything can be recreated through one's knowledge, emotions, beliefs. It lets me express my feelings, participate in today's world.

   Daniel Sarazin



   What an eloquent way to express one's soul, and one's passion too! Daniel Sarazin describes himself first and foremost as a colourist, explaining that he foregoes preliminary sketches when producing a painting. He likes to develop his subject from

a few inspirational elements, and feels that light, depth and overall atmosphere are as important as respecting perspective.
   The unorthodox character of this artist is fascinating. His subjects bathe in the ambiance of the moment, sometimes as a diptych or triptych, contemplative, compelling, and with a hint of humour too! There is in his human morphologies a distortion, exaggeration, questions raised. "I'm a positive person, I like humour and there is even a naive aspect in my paintings," he says.
   Now 30, this native of Trois-Rivieres, Quebec, began drawing at a young age, taking an interest in painting in his early teens. Colour continues to nou- rish his creative imagination, with a focus   on   landscape,  and    light  as  a

prime creative element. Gradually, his paintings came to be "peopled", with men, women, children, and older people (as if atoning for their long absence from his work).
   Composition, whatever the form, depends on the structure of a work of art, how it develops. It gives meaning. Art lovers and critics sometimes call certain paintings "amateur" yet respond to their interesting composition. In Daniel Sarazin's case, amateurism is not the salient feature of his work, quite the contrary. Self-taught, he first used oil but now paints in acrylic, a medium that better suits his needs, seeking a singular pictorial path.
   Sarazin has a spontaneous interest in everything. He avoids déjà-vu, repetition. His works must reflect life. And   while   no   artist     likes    to   be

compared certain artists of renown do come to mind. The painting by Sarazin reproduced in the most recent Biennial Guide to Canadian Artists an Galleries reminds me of a JeanPaul Lemieux scene, a being in solitude amid universal, symbolic space. Yes, sooner or later, all creators are "victims" of some influence, to varying degrees, consciously or unconsciously. "I'm definitely influenced by the work of other artists. That of ChagaIl and Bruegel, among others, have affected me greatly," he says. And, in the past year, he's begun to do sculptures, depicting some eccentric personages.
   Daniel Sarazin is also one of the artists invited to contribute a work to illustrate the superb Edition Beaux Livres reissue of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's masterpiece, Le Petit Prince, an initiative of publisher Henri Rivard. His painting shows the openness and wonder of the child so movingly painted by the artist.

   "Living art does not reproduce the past: it takes it forward."

   Auguste Rodin.