About | Studio Karine Bassal

About Me

Artist Statement

For over two decades, my artistic practice has focused on figurative portraiture in oil paint - whether humans or animals. I have always been fascinated by the uniqueness of faces and the distinctiveness of each gaze. The potential of the eyes to communicate and awaken emotion in a single glance has been a driving force in my creative process. I am drawn to each personality behind the outward appearance and the unseen story that shaped it. My goal is not to simply copy a given form, like a photograph. I want the Life and the spark of my subjects to leap from the canvas and move the spectator.

I work exclusively with oil paint. Brushstrokes are subtle; lighting is dramatic. Thin layers of glazed paint give the impression that the light emanates from within the canvas. Rather than relying on clichés, my close-cropped photorealistic portraits bring a fresh perspective to my portraits, resulting in truly personal and meaningful commissions. By choosing to eliminate any possible context, the subject is the sole focus of the painting and rarely leaves the viewer indifferent.

Biography

Karine Bassal is a Montreal-based artist who obtained her Masters degree in Art Education from Concordia University in 2021. Always creative, she first started painting at the the age of nine under the guidance of Ena Van Dykhoff. Her love of art led her to complete the Fine Arts program at John Abbott College (1997) where she discovered the virtues of contemporary art. To deepen her understanding of the art world, she completed her Bachelor’s degree with First Class Honors in Art History at McGill University (2002) while working as an assistant director and administrator in a few Montreal galleries. In 2004, she was a proud recipient of a scholarship from the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) when she undertook Master’s level classes in Art History at Concordia University before devoting herself to her art production full-time. Having benefitted from the exposure of numerous exhibitions and successful gallery representation in Montreal, these days she can be found happily working in her studio focusing on commissions and teaching painting and drawing to neuro-divergent and neuro-typical children and adults.