Claire Desjardins | LINGER

Exhibition: Claire Desjardins | LINGER
Exhibition Dates: July 10 - 26
Vernissage: Saturday July 12, from 3 - 5 pm
Artist Talk: Saturday July 12, from 3:45 pm

WALL SPACE GALLERY is proud to present our upcoming July exhibition: “LINGER”, the latest solo exhibition by award-winning abstract painter Claire Desjardins. We look forward to seeing you at the vernissage on July 12 from 3 - 5 pm at our gallery location, 1090 Bank St. at Sunnyside.

Claire Desjardins (Gore, QC) - In this exhibition, Desjardins invites us into a space shaped by memory, loss, and quiet resilience—a space that resists finality and instead dwells in the subtle reverberations that follow. This body of work unfolds in the wake of personal grief, yet it reaches far beyond the confines of mourning. These paintings do not aim to resolve; rather, they extend an invitation to pause—to sit with the layered, tender complexities that remain after profound change.

What emerges is a language of presence. Through soft palettes, deliberate mark-making, and moments of rich saturation, the artist captures not only what has been lost, but what continues to evolve. The use of inherited materials—brushes, pigments, textures once belonging to her mother—imbues the work with an intimate sense of collaboration across time. Each canvas holds the quiet weight of remembrance, but also the warmth of continued connection.

Global travel also leaves its mark here, not as visual quotation but as emotional resonance. Motifs influenced by Indigenous Australian storytelling, the rhythm and hue of African pattern, and the contemplative spirit found in the paintings of Matthew Wong—all weave through the work with subtlety and grace. These influences act as echoes, reinforcing the artist’s exploration of how repetition, color, and form can embody narrative.

LINGER resists spectacle in favor of sincerity. The paintings do not shout for attention; they ask to be felt. They create space for reflection—on personal histories, on shifting identities, on the quiet beauty of carrying memory forward. In a world often consumed by urgency, this work offers something radical: slowness, softness, and the suggestion that care can be an artistic practice. Here, in this stillness, LINGER makes room for us all—to remember, to grieve, to continue.

Claire Desjardins is an award-winning abstract painter known for her vibrant and dynamic compositions. Originally from Montreal, Desjardins now lives an hour north of the city. Surrounded by the natural beauty of the Laurentians, she spends most days painting in her studio.