Born in Armagh, Quebec, in 1970, Therrien’s creativity is rewarded from a young age, when he wins prizes in elementary school.
The self-taught artist explores the many facets of visual arts for the past sixteen years and currently mainly produces large scale paintings featuring full-bodied characters in fun, unexpected situations to which viewers can relate.
Rock imagines a scene which he sketches onto the canvas, and then moves on to working colour and texture with his very personal approach. Therrien’s characters live in a different era and, to reinforce the sense of time gone by, he sands down portions of his very textured works; he then carves in circular motifs, each decorated with symbols. Each painting consists of a superimposition of matter and techniques. The artist purposely allows glimpses of their composition to remain for the viewer: a bit of collage, a few pencil strokes, a touch of plaster...
Each painting is a sort of coded message and tells its own story, although on many levels to be discovered gradually. Therrien seeks out viewers’ attention with his use of colour and subject, and maintains their interest with the humorous tone permeating his work. This dynamic inspires and motivates him to keep on creating new pieces.
