The Bipolar Giant, a Living Legend! – Part Four

Winter landscape with a snowy plain in the foreground, in the middle of the painting is a house with its surroundings next to the forest edge with maple red colours, then green conifers with the mountainside and blue skies.

Late October. Techniques mixtes. Par Laimon Mitris, 1978.

Allow Guillaume Beaulieu to recount his legend in his own words and in its original language by clicking the link below. View the full transcript in English here.

Once again constrained to an unbearable loneliness, the giant takes the time to gather his thoughts and belongings and find his true north and the strength to love. He gives up… He rolls up his sleeves, re-surveys the territory far and wide, stops for one moment, elbows on knees. He is on the precipice of retirement, struck by the colours of “Laimon Mitris” erupting from every direction. Seized by vitriolic shards of pink sky entering his dilated pupils, he admits to being defeated by his territory. So much torment to come to the knowledge that the territory he cleared, open and inhabited is in him and that nowhere else does he feel at home.

Outside view of a rural landscape, at dawn, on a field and building dimly lit. A light mist rises.

A Preissac landscape. In the late 70s.

He dreamt of this land of the wild game when he was insular, but in the end, he found so much more; the rebellious hideout, where anything possible is, an enchanting land able to drink in its salty tears and turn them into fresh water. A land of abundance to exchange for anything it may lack while dancing in the symphony of nations.

A thin squared veil overlapping a blurred landscape in which the two thirds of the top are dominated by a white mass drilled with dark spots and the last third of the painting contains many red, green and white runs.

Memory has a way of fading. Painting by Ariane Ouellet, 2005.

Yet, what did he do with this territory so dear to his heart? Yes, there were indeed upright cities, the sinuous towns, the cliffs with panoramic views, the pathways of secrets as well as the clean working of the land, yet… How many immense crevasses, oppressed coniferous forests, mountain sized landfills, as well as the spewing of tar and black smoke in the race for development consistently making more losers every second, because you’ve never felt so inadequate as when your in a race to resemble the south? He told himself matter of factly, he has a pension to pay to his second wife, the one from the city.

He was disappointed in his father for hiding the fact that he was making money on the back of this territory that he didn’t really even know in order to pay back creditors for an infinitely large amount of dept. But, you have to be imaginative, show proof of joyful creative delinquency to belong to oneself, while putting an end to certain toxic relationships that exsanguinate his territory, and himself by extension.

The Bipolar Giant, a Living Legend! – Part Three The Bipolar Giant, a Living Legend! – Final Part