Papier et mémoire Exposition d’Olivier Bonnet

What happens when the canvas already has a past?

In Papier et mémoire, Montréal-based artist Olivier Bonnet transforms vintage papers, old maps, book pages, and patterned surfaces into striking linocut prints layered with history, texture, and imagination.

Bringing together nearly a year of recent production, this solo exhibition invites visitors to look beyond the image itself and discover the stories carried by the materials beneath it. Each work becomes a meeting point between past and present, where archival imagery, printed gesture, and repurposed paper come together to create something entirely new.

Through layering, transparency, and transformation, Bonnet explores how images hold memory across time, place, and territory. Rich in detail and full of quiet discoveries, the exhibition encourages a slower look—one that reveals the hidden life of paper, ink, and image.

About the Artist

Olivier Bonnet is a Montréal-based visual artist whose practice explores memory, archival imagery, and visual storytelling through drawing, printmaking, and mixed media. Influenced by time spent in Europe, Asia, and Africa, his work reflects a deep interest in cultural exchange, history, and the traces images leave behind.

Working from vintage photographic sources, Bonnet creates layered compositions on historical and textured papers. His work has been exhibited in Ottawa, Gatineau, and Montréal, where he remains an active member of the local arts community. Recognized as a professional artist by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels du Québec (RAAV), he works from his studio at the Montreal Art Center and Museum in Griffintown.