Jean Brillant

Canadian sculptor Jean Brillant was born in Rimouski in 1959. At the age of 9, his family moved to southern France, where he marvelled at his discovery of stone-cutting in Vaucluse. It was his discovery of this material that later led him to the École d’Aix-en-Provence, and then to Dijon’s École nationale supérieure d’art before returning to Canada, where he attended the Université du Québec à Montréal.

From 1988 on, Mr. Brillant presented his first works in a Montreal art gallery, Galerie Daniel. Enriched by his Canadian roots and his discovery of the art world through North American and European galleries, he gave free rein to his imagination, freely assembling and contrasting natural elements and industrial remnants. He has had a number of solo exhibitions in Canada and France.

Since 1994, Mr. Brillant has been creating outdoor sculptures, leading him to gradually break away from the traditional market offered by art galleries. Several of his works appear in both public collections (MNBAQ, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Musée régional de Rimouski) and private collections (Fondation Bombardier, Lavallin, Steelcase). Jean Brillant currently lives in ithe heart of Montreal, Canada, in a former industrial factory that has been transformed into an artist’s studio.