Bourdeau Artiste Peintre’s Biography

Now a resident of La Malbaie, Raynald Bourdeau was born on 17 December 1959 in Limoilou, a working-class neighborhood of Quebec City, Canada. He has shown an interest in painting from a young age and studied arts at the Université Laval as well as at Sainte-Foy College. Bourdeau thus holds a Technical Studies Certificate in layout and phototypesetting. Thanks to his arts education, his experience in galleries and his participation to a variety in symposiums, he has found his place as an artist.

When he was about to turn 19, Bourdeau was already painting in a workshop with professional artist Richard Fournel while an agent roamed the French-speaking province of Quebec to sell their work. Since 2017, he has been fully dedicated to his art. The following year, he was already exhibiting in the offices of the G7 and in two window displays on La Malbaie’s main street, during the redevelopment of the downtown core. Bourdeau is now a Guest Artist at U Concept Gallery in Shanghai (China). Furthermore, many of his paintings are held in private collections.

Before becoming a full-time artist, Bourdeau has been a stakeholder in an art gallery on Quebec City’s Grande Allée, taken part in a variety of symposiums throughout the province, painted live, and won a number of art competitions. Through his career at the Société des alcools du Québec (SAQ), he has had the privilege of exhibiting in window displays, illustrating catalogues, and presiding the crown corporation’s artist association. The label of a French wine dons one of his works. Bourdeau also painted a mural in the entrance of the SAQ’s wine class in Montreal.

A troubled witness to the divide between abstract and figurative art, he instead sees them as two complementary energies. His life experience, which oscillates between reality and fantasy, informs his approach. His inner balance depends on constant shifting between these two spaces, so close —they can be accessed simply by closing and reopening one’s eyes— and yet worlds apart. His foremost preoccupation lies with the transcendence of humans in all the beauty they hold, both within and without.