Baroque, Loony Toons, and house music: meet muralist Jean Paul Langlois

Photo provided by Jean Paul Langlois

West Coast Métis artist Jean Paul Langlois’ cinematic, Western-meets-Sci Fi-meets-Sunday morning cartoon-ness with both Indigenous and settler undertones.

And now, Jean Paul has brought his signature style to the side of the Sudbury Theatre Centre! He took a few minutes this week to tell us more about this piece.

What inspired this piece?

Normally my work is very personal. Telling family stories or personal anecdotes. Public art has to be less specific, and I was stoked the theatre and Up Here gave me carte blanche, which is a real leap of faith.

I’ve been really influenced by baroque hunting paintings by Peter Paul Rubens and Frans Snyders, and more recently, a French painter named Alexandre-François Desportes. He did hundreds of paintings of hunting dogs and their quarry, or taking down deer and wild boar, in gory, violent scenes. But they are kinda goofy too. He worked from taxidermy as well as life drawings. So the movements are unnatural, almost cartoonish.

This piece is appropriated from his work. I was doing a large painting of this scene in the studio, I just deconstructed it and put the elements back in to fit the wall.

The landscape is also inspired by Looney Tunes backgrounds. I watch a lot of cartoons for inspiration.

What do you listen to while you paint?

I have very eclectic taste. I love classical, hip hop, trap, rap, Miami bass, G-funk, screw music, experimental, folk, yacht rock, metal, classic punk, hardcore, weird shit, musicals, reggae, old ska, dancehall, house, techno, ghettotech, footwork, bmore, bounce, baile funk, ana piano, trucker country, hillbilly music, whatever…

But my assistant, the talented young painter Corbin Elliot, and his friend Recless like house and techno, so I've been sticking to DJ mixes or playlists with lots of that.

Where is your dream mural location?

Oh jeez. That's a long list…and I really only do one mural a year but: Vietnam, Brazil, Italy, Australia, LA, NY, Chicago, Miami, New Orleans, Montreal.

Photo provided by Jean Paul Langlois

Paintings in gallery by Peter Paul Rubens, Frans Snyders, Alexandre-François Desportes from Wikipedia.