It’s absolutely remarkable for an emerging artist, but all the canvases in his first collection have been sold. Fourteen of the 24 works in his second collection, called Les couleurs de l’âme (the colours of the soul), particularly pleased the art aficionados who came to enjoy his creations on Thursday, April 12, in Montreal’s Galerie Carte Blanche. This is a highly promising debut for Sylvain Cayouette – artist’s name: Scay – who is gradually carving a place for himself in the prestigious world of contemporary art.

The idea had been simmering in Sylvain Cayouette’s mind for more than a decade. Creative vice-president, partner and founder of Rouge Marketing agency, Sylvain decided about two years ago to give free rein to his artistic endeavour. “Sophie, my companion, suggested that I write my ideas down on paper before launching myself,” Sylvain explains. “I consider myself a rookie, so I explore, I take classes and I have fun doing it. It’s very flattering that people already like it…that they like my works enough to purchase them and take them into their homes.”

Rigorous method

Every painting is conceived with the idea of creating a series. Before attacking the production phase, Sylvain creates a digital montage from photos and images. When it’s time to reproduce the concept, he makes sure that everything is identical, from the background to the colours. “I don’t stray from it,” he says. “I mix until I find exactly the right colour. The painting is identical to my concept, which is 90 per cent made on my computer, less the texture,” he adds.

Art is free: a first unrestrained flight

While the human being is at the heart of Scay’s art, brands and logos were the key to that first series, which presented vertical works four by six feet in size. Nude bodies fuse magnificently with a variety of well-known symbols. One of the works in this series, inspired by the logo of Saint-Hubert restaurants, now hangs in the home of M. Léger, founder of the famous restaurant chain.

“I wanted to create works that would appeal to me as an advertising person, minus the creative constraints,” explains Sylvain. “So my first collection was oriented towards brand images. I found in them a more graphic, less pictorial side. As an art director, I often find myself bound by issues of copyright. Doing these, I could appropriate what already exists and redo it using my own ideas. Let’s say that I really indulged myself for that first series.”

The colours of the soul

The evening of the opening of Les couleurs de l’âme series, Scay revealed a new aspect of his work: faces. It was a daring step, but was very well received by the public. An art teacher with whom Sylvain had worked said that he was amazed by the results, considering that this was a first for the artist. “It seems that I succeeded in giving a soul to each of my individuals, at least, that’s what they’ve told me. Some purchasers have called me to say that they have the feeling of having a new person in their living room, of having made a new friend,” he recounts.

In spite of the challenge, a third collection in the making

The next collections, called Les mains qui transforment le monde (the hands that transform the world), will represent a challenge in terms of the subject matter. Scay will work with gold leaf to produce a new series of canvases featuring hands. “Hands build and destroy, do and undo. That’s more or less the idea of my collection. The changes wrought by hands are fantastic in the history of our society. I’ll have 36, so 36 subjects doing all kinds of things,” he concludes.