Visual artist Marc-Alain Félix uses acrylics, oil pastels, and markers to create art surrounding memory, identity, and resilience. His work explores the boundaries between abstraction and figuration, emphasizing human vulnerability, cultural dynamics, and the interactions between the individual and their environment. Félix recognizes cultural diversity and the amplitude of human experiences, making it an artistic and social commitment that inspires reflection and change.
Félix has been a professional artist since 2016. Although most of his exhibits are in Montreal, he has showcased his art in cities like New York, Milan, and Tokyo. He said he had been interested in art since he was younger, but his parents did not expect him to enter that field.
“Coming from a Black and Haitian family, our parents always wanted us to be either a lawyer, a doctor, or an engineer. But I believe all humans are born with artistic capacity; it’s all depending on your environment and if you did develop it or not,” Félix said to the CONTACT.
He explained that he highlights the human eye in several paintings because he believes it represents guidance, his ancestors, and many other things.
“It’s one of my favourite symbols because I use symbols a lot. It’s like a coded language,” he said. “Sometimes I will use a symbol to express something very specific that I want people to pay attention to, and sometimes it’s something I keep to myself in a sanity; nobody will know the meaning of that symbol except me,” Félix explained. “It’s also a way to create an interaction with the public; when they look at it, they’re questioning, ‘What does that mean?’”
He added that he paints for various reasons, like practicing his skills or sending a message to people about serious topics like discrimination. He said that painting also helps him “cope with the reality of life.”
“I can’t keep it to myself. I need to find a way to say it. I’ll say it through art,” Félix expressed. “I’m not the type of person who would hide from the reality of what’s going on right now in the world, with all the wars and what’s going on in Palestine. It’s killing me just to think about it; they’re blowing up kids.”
Felix said he uses colours like blue and yellow to show joy in his work, but he does not want to ignore the negative events happening in the world.
“I have nothing against people who draw flowers and birds and all of these beautiful things because we need that, and when we see them, it makes us feel better. But for me, if I’m an artist and I have this creativity, I have a position, this capacity to talk in a certain way through a painting, and I’ll do it. But I’ll use important subjects, hoping that maybe I’ll change something in the world or make people change their minds about some things. That doesn’t mean that I can’t paint flowers and birds and all this sweet stuff. I can do them. But right now, it’s not how I feel inside,” he said.
Félix added that he thinks life is beautiful and views himself as a positive and bright person, but he “can’t be fully happy as other people are not fully happy.”
Beyond creating paintings, Félix is the art director of the Dear Jackie documentary that is available on CBC Gems. The film revolves around Jackie Robinson, the first African American player in Major League Baseball. It highlights the personal stories of Little Burgundy residents, explores racism and racial inequality in Montreal and Quebec, and serves as a tribute to “the perseverance of one of Canada’s most important Black communities.”
He added that he did everything by hand when he art-directed the documentary and created paintings because he did not know how to draw on a computer.
“Jackie was an amazing experience because they just proved that, as I said at the beginning of the interview, you could be a visual artist, but you can’t just do paintings. You do other stuff as well, and I think you have this capacity of touching so many things,” Félix said.
One of his recent exhibitions, Losing My Religion, is displayed at the Church of Gesù Montreal until 2028. In this piece, he explores his religious beliefs, the existence of heaven and hell, and Jesus’ identity, with brown hair and light eyes.
He explained that he grew up in a Catholic church. His mom influenced him to go there until one day when she told him, “You guys are old enough to decide by yourself. I showed you guys God; now you decide if you want to go back to church.”
Félix said he continued to go to church. Every New Year celebration on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, before going partying, he and his friend went to church to thank God for the year that had just passed and for the year that was coming.
“It was very important for us, and then once we went there, the vibe was off. The priest was saying stuff, and people were just repeating it. I feel like people were there just because they had to be there. I said, ‘Do you feel there’s something off?’ He’s like, ‘I feel there’s something off.’ We got out. We didn’t stay there. I never went back since,” Félix said. “ And when I had this opportunity to work on this project, I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is it. I’m going to use this one to express myself and to see what I have to say about the church. So I started. It was abstract, and I started doing a bunch of stuff, and it came out so nice. It’s not like I don’t believe. I believe Jesus existed, but not the way they introduced him to us. I think with Jesus, the message to us was to be free, liberate ourselves and our minds from the structure, from the government, and all of these things.”
More information on his recent exhibitions can be found on his website: www.marcalainfelix.com.
