UNE Campus Center exhibits ‘Paradox of Landscape’ by Maine artist Joël LeVasseur

An exhibition of artwork by Maine artist Joël LeVasseur is on display at the University of New England’s Biddeford Campus Center now through April 1. The exhibit, “Paradox of Landscape: River of Life, River of Death,” showcases a series of works concerning obstructions in the rural landscape and the loss of natural environments.

LeVasseur, who lives and works in Damariscotta, said inspiration for this most recent exhibit and others come from the notion that there is a “paradox” of landscape that is both familiar and remote — familiar, through the iconic depictions to which we have become accustomed, and remote by token of its vastness. 

“I’ve become less interested in the aesthetics and in what the term ‘landscape’ generally implies: a view,” the artist remarked. “Now, my interests lie more with the irreversible changes that result from the socio-political realities of development.”

LeVasseur remarked that much of his creative process and methods of sourcing materials come from walking along and scavenging discarded materials from Maine’s beaches, state parks, and along public highways.

“Through subtle symbolism of trajectories and scars across a tortured landscape and use of detritus — i.e., fishermen’s ropes and tire fragments — as templates for printmaking and ideas for painting and installation, my work focuses primarily on primordial origins, void, and chaos, all of which I interpret as fragments of a vanishing earth,” he said. “In my ongoing investigation and art practice, my intent is to provoke, gently, how we quickly become accustomed to fabricated landscape, no longer pristine — nor wild.”

LeVasseur is a multidisciplinary environmental artist who holds a bachelor’s degree from Husson University and a Master of Fine Arts from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. His teaching credits include the Freshwater Arts Organization, where he led a printmaking marathon for several years; the University of Maine at Fort Kent; the Maine College of Art and Design; Husson University; the Drawing Room in Portland; studio-based learning at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts; and the Farmington Technology Center.

LeVasseur’s work has been exhibited nationally in New York City, Houston, and San Diego. In Maine, his pieces have been displayed at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art Biennial, the University of Maine at Farmington, and Threads at the Portland Public Library. He has participated in several of Maine’s Percent for Art projects, where his work is on permanent display.

Most recently, in 2018, LeVasseur served as artist-in-residence at Husson University in Bangor, where he led several workshops in printmaking and sculpting as part of his show “Into the Wonder: Cabinet of Curiosities” in the Robert E. White Gallery and the W. Tom & Bonnie Sawyer Library.

LeVasseur’s exhibit at UNE is accompanied by the poem “River of Life, River of Death” by e.w. oestreich, written in collaboration with the artist’s work, which inspired the show’s title.

“Paradox of Landscape: River of Life, River of Death” is free and open to the public. Masks are required indoors for all visitors to UNE’s campuses. The Campus Center is located at 11 Hills Beach Road, Biddeford, Maine. Hours are Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.