Pierre St-Jacques was born in Ottawa
He currently lives and works in Toronto.
email: pierre@pierrestjacques.com
insta: pierresaintjacques

Bio:

Pierre St-Jacques is a Toronto-based artist working in video and a variety of 2D media. His work often takes the shape of multi-channel video installations, or drawings. He also likes to keep a sketchbook not as a vehicle for quick drawings but as a way of putting down a series of thoughts, in finished form, almost as a series of mini performances.

Pierre has shown both nationally and internationally. Having lived in New York City from 1999 to 2022 many of his exhibitions have been centered around the NYC area. He has shown his work at Artist Space, Station Independent Projects, the Bronx Museum, BRIC, and Metaphor contemporary amongst others. He has taken part in a multitude of art fairs such as DiVa, the fair for video, Scope, Bridge and Pool. He has also been part of a series of film festivals such as the Montreal New Cinema and New Video Festival, the Berlin International Director’s Lounge and the Chelsea Film Festival amongst others.

Pierre recently completed a new 4-channel video installation entitled “Two Birds on a Wire” which premiered at Station Independent Projects in Toronto. There are also a series of canvasses leaning on his studio wall depicting modern life in the city

Statement:

In my work I want to observe what drives us, what motivates us, and, above all, how we ultimately construct the person that we are. I’m attracted to the series of little gestures and little decisions that, both consciously and unconsciously, give shape to our persona.

What I seek out in my work is the unofficial version of this persona, the elusive wordless jumble beneath the surface. It can be glanced at in those quick moments, where that rare spark jumps from one person to another and opens a small door into a large new world that, if only for a second, makes us glimpse what it means to be human.

About the most recent exhibition: People in the City

At the outset I wanted to call this show “Angels in the Maze” but I didn’t like the religious connotations with ‘angels’, as if we are on team ’good’ and could do no wrong. I want to treat the people depicted in my work with kindness, but I also understand that we are subjects with faults, and that these faults are in a sense beautiful and deserve an attempt at understanding.

This body of work reflects a diffuse sense of disorientation that feels inseparable from contemporary life. Society has expanded and intertwined in countless directions, creating systems so complex that attempts to improve one area often produce unintended consequences elsewhere. The result is a pervasive uncertainty—a feeling that it’s no longer clear where we stand, or how best to move forward.

These works sit within that uncertainty. They speak to the unease of navigating a world we have meticulously constructed, yet struggle to inhabit comfortably. It’s as if, in the act of building, we gathered endless measurements and notes, only to discover that the final structure doesn’t quite fit. The figures in these pieces exist within that awkwardness, searching for footing, connection, and meaning amid the gaps.