[It has taken the greater part of 20 years for recognition to come to Montreal-born artist Liane Abrieu. Taking time from a busy schedule (she works between 40-50 hours per week on canvases that take a minimum of one month to complete), she granted Montreal Serai an interview in her quaint, rustic home in the village of St-Philippe, 30 minutes south of Montreal. Liane Abrieu began exhibiting in 1980. Her works have appeared at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the Historic Museum, the Shayne Gallery, and most recently the prestigious Perry Gallery in New York.] ed.

LIANE: I don't begrudge the minimalist artist. When I first discovered Jackson Pollack, I liked what I saw. He was a pioneer. If it wasn't him, someone else would have artistically expressed himself by throwing paint at the canvas. But you can only go so far with this. The same with the minimalists. Someone had to do it, they've had their day in the sun, and now I believe it's over. You can only do so many variations of stripes and bars before it becomes redundant. And the consumer can only hang so many of these works in his living room before they begin to look like wallpaper. Yes. The huge sums of money these people have received have angered me. The reason I moved to St-Philippe many years ago was because the rent was $90/month. But these granting agencies have shot themselves in the foot because the artists they have supported have mostly gone nowhere; they haven't developed, and I believe that most of them will be forgotten. And the art critics who have staked their reputations on this stuff will have lost credibility. What goes around comes around. But to be honest, I can't concern myself with what other artists are doing. I have my own visions and work to complete and there is never enough time.

LIANE: It's not my place as an artist to document what's happening in the places you have mentioned. I haven't suffered their suffering. I can't talk about starvation because I have never been that deprived. And we are so much more aware of it today because of the revolution in communications. So if the misery has already been documented, I simply don't see the point in adding to it. I do know that much closer to home there is a different kind of suffering which can be very difficult in its own way. What the world needs is more beauty in it; and this is something I can give. My work isn't for everybody. Not everybody is ready for beauty.

LIANE: I think certain things have to happen during one's life for beauty to make a difference. I guess everyone has to suffer the realization, each in his own fashion, that there isn't enough time in a life time to do everything we would have liked, that one day we are going to die and that will be the end of beauty. For these people, I hope I can make a difference. When someone tells me that they have problems or have been depressed, but after looking at my work it makes them feel good, that they have been able to clear their minds - if only for a while -- I feel that I have accomplished something, that I have contributed something to the world.

LIANE: I'm actually a very solitary person. I need my solitude to work. I would like to be with these people in my paintings and I suppose I envy them in a certain way, but I know it wouldn't be me. At the same time it's not easy being alone for most of the day; but I really don't have a choice. People are surprised to learn that I'm not part of an artistic community. I suppose there are times when I would like to talk with other artists to discuss mutual problems, encourage each other. But outside of my family, I just don't have time or the inclination to be with other people.

LIANE: What is truth? It varies from one person to the next. When I was younger I took certain things for granted; I passed over beautiful things because I didn't see them. What was beautiful for someone else didn't exist for me. But it was always there. I don't think I could ever paint a war scene, or something ugly. Even if it does represent a certain truth, it's only one kind of truth. Another truth is that we sometimes need to escape from ourselves, from the pressures and stresses of life. For some, it might be through drugs and alcohol, movies or soap operas; for others, perhaps through art. I would like to transport the viewer to an ideal world, where people are civil and considerate of each other, to an architectural order that is pleasing to the eye and harmonious with nature, where poverty has been eliminated. Call it a dream world if you like, but if we can't dream of better places they will never become real, actual. The abundance that we enjoy now was nothing but a dream in the Middle Ages. Maybe one day what you see in my paintings will be real. I would love to be as happy as the people in my paintings.

LIANE: I love beautiful things much more than labels. I can only say that I am thankful that I have been given a certain gift, which I feel obliged to use and share with others.

LIANE: A few years ago someone brought to my attention that there is a moral presence in my paintings. So now, when I'm in the presence of something beautiful, I feel that I have come in contact with something moral that I would like to share with others. It's hard to explain. I'm attracted to people who conduct themselves in an orderly fashion; I'm attracted to orderly scenes in life.

LIANE: I'm concerned that the French language, my mother tongue, may, in fact, one day disappear. But that's due to globalization more than national politics. There are lots of things besides French that are being threatened by globalization. In fact, you could say that 'all' the cultures of the world are being threatened by the culture of technology. When I conceive of a work, I'm not thinking politics if that's what you're asking.

LIANE: (Laughing) I can't imagine that. Just like I can't imagine our Prime Ministers and Premiers going to museums - maybe in Europe, but not here.

LIANE: That's very true. It's not realism but it's not exactly surrealism either, nor is it symbolic or allegorical - maybe all of the above. Some people see the influence of other artists in my works, but this is unintentional. They have asked me if I have been influenced by Magritte or Delvaux - and I have had to tell them that I am very unfamiliar with the history of painting and hadn't heard of the these people. Now that I know them I understand where they are coming from. I paint what I paint because I'm moved by what I imagine. There is something that I must express. If I don't feel it I'm not going to paint it. I don't study other painters. I don't even use models.

LIANE: We are living in a time where extraordinary importance is placed on beauty. We want our boyfriends and girlfriends to be beautiful, even though we recognize that being beautiful, or good-looking doesn't mean that you are good. In other words much of what is considered beautiful is superficial. But that is what we are conditioned to look for, and we believe we are happy when we find it. Unfortunately, the same holds true in the visual arts where the consumer is looking for the equivalent of a beautiful blond he can hang on the wall. And while a particular minimalist painting might be beautiful, pleasing to the eye, after while you realize there's nothing there. But this is what the consumer wants - and he will pay top dollar for it. I think of my work as an alternative to what's out there - and that it's meaningful to other people because what is there will be there for a lifetime.

LIANE: Some of them - yes. But it's also nice to know that my paintings are living independent lives elsewhere, are bringing people pleasure in places as far away as England.

LIANE: I think I would be more surrealist, perhaps a bit more morbid if I didn't have to concern myself with making a living. But I don't think I'm compromising my visions and feelings. At the same time I'm aware of what people are willing to hang on their living room walls. I could paint a beautiful spider about to devour its prey, but who wants it.

LIANE: Not really. Artists from time immemorial have been commissioned by city states, or emperors and municipalities to do art. As you can see, I'm more or less doing exactly what I want.