dc3 Art Projects is pleased to present Early Recovery, an extensive collection of previously unseen drawings by Richard Boulet. 

Early Recovery features nearly 100 drawings made by between 1994-2000. During this period Boulet’s creative impulse was a survival strategy, a way to re-find himself and guide his way through darkness. This exhibition displays Boulet’s vibrant colour palette and exuberant multi-media drawing style, creating all-over compositions, including wildly patterned areas juxtaposed with washes of colour that provide the occasional resting space. These works speak to the struggles we all face, and to the strength found in creative processes.

Canadian artist Richard Boulet uses quilting, cross-stitching, drawing and assemblage techniques to address his personal history of schizophrenia and broader issues of mental health. Boulet’s art is decidedly self-reflexive – his labour-intensive working process provides him with an opportunity to contemplate the past and, stitch by careful stitch, to put things right. As Boulet explains, “To use quilting and cross-stitching in a body of work that alludes to the psychological dilemmas of addressing personal traumas seems appropriate, in that there is a strong sense of comfort and self-care in these two techniques.” In addition to working in cross-stitch and quilting, he maintains an active solo and collaborative drawing practice exploring issues of personal and queer identity, health and illness.

Richard Boulet lives and works in Edmonton. He holds a BFA from the University of Manitoba School of Art, Winnipeg, MB, Canada and an MFA from the University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada Boulet has exhibited at Plug In ICA, Winnipeg; Creative Growth, San Francisco; Keyano College Art Gallery, Fort McMurray; Illingworth Kerr Gallery, Alberta College of Art + Design, Calgary; Ace Art Inc., Winnipeg; and the 2007 Alberta Biennale. Boulet was the subject of an exhibition, Stitched and Drawn, circulated by Alberta College of Art and Design’s Illingworth Kerr Gallery and curator Wayne Baerwaldt in 2012 and his solo show, A Retrospective, opened at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie in 2016.