Marc Séguin’s superb images of church ruins carry the literal weight of the transition between life and death: ashes, the material residue of destruction from which the aura of the dead emanates. Art historian Manon Regimbald draws a link between Séguin and Betty Goodwin, Anselm Kiefer, and Joseph Beuys. She aptly writes, “Séguin’s work opens up an inner world covered in ghostly traces … which, after recognizing the futility of escape, risks total collapse.”1
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Séguin divides his time between Hemmingford, Quebec, and Brooklyn. Since his first solo exhibition in 1996, followed one year later by the group exhibition De fougue et de passion at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Séguin has had a very active career showing across Canada and internationally. His paintings, prints, and etchings defy the status quo and flirt with themes of violence, death, and terror. They are included in numerous private, public, and museum collections, including the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. A multidisciplinary artist, Séguin published his first novel, La Foi du braconnier, in 2009 (Leméac, Prix littéraire des collégiens du Québec), followed by Hollywood, in 2012 (a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award), and Nord Alice in 2015. In 2016, he released his first feature film, Stealing Alice, which premiered at Montreal’s Festival du nouveau cinema.
