There was Pellan and now there is Michel Tanguay! A contagious gleam in his eyes inspires respect and love for life that reminds me, without any hesitation, the ones of the great artist Alfred Pellan. To meet the man is to understand his art. Moreover, is to fall in love with his creation!

In his haven of peace that edges Ste-Hedwidge’s “Lac France Roy” in Saguenay Lac-St-Jean, Michel Tanguay leads a solitary life in the wild where he has created his own world in which he draws his inspiration given by the vibes that surround him. I am convinced that the blood that runs through his veins his the one of a true artist considering that when we admire his work, we can feel his soul reflecting through it. He invites the audience to daydream through his inner universe and his deference towards nature’s beauty that are cast in his work with a unique language and blend of surrealism, abstractism and realism.

Born in 1937 in Roberval, he leaves his native region after finishing High School to study the fine arts in Montreal. His first success comes in 1967 during a solo exhibit at the “Centre Culturel de Shawinigan”. The same year, he takes part to a collective exhibit at the “Grenier des artistes” at Saint-Jacques-des Piles, in company of Quebec’s late lamented and famous poet Félix Leclerc.

In 1979, he is proclaimed guest of honour at the “Traversée international du Lac-St-Jean” and becomes immortal by creating a mural that is now part of the Traversée’s prestigious artworks collection

Two of his sculptures are now part of the public artworks repertory of the “Ministère des Travaux publics et de l’approvisonnement” in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean’s region: Structure 1001 (1976) and Contestation (1965).

To ensure a living heritage, Tanguay taught his free spirit and his marvellous view on art to a great number of students of this region for 35 years as a teacher and as the principal of the plastic arts program at the Lac-St-Jean Regional School Commission.

His numerous participations to symposiums and art exhibitions everywhere throughout the province of Quebec from the 1960’s to nowadays are innumerable. His artistic journey is very impressive!

He is also an active member of “MAESTRIA”, which is an association of accredited professional artists of Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean that gives him great exposure by regularly organizing large-scale events, exhibits and workshops throughout the region.

More than ever, Michel Tanguay feels in himself the breath of creation and I dare to say, with a non-dissimulated self-confidence, that his work will delight us for many years to come…