Eric Cameron's Thick Paintings at Centre culturel canadien, Paris

Eric Cameron, born in England in 1936, emigrated to Canada in 1969 where he worked as a university professor in Calgary and as an artist. He is known for his Thick Paintings, begun in 1979, which involve coating ordinary objects with layers of white gesso. The process is methodical: he takes an object belonging to someone close, covers it with half-layers of thick acrylic paint, and records each application in an Addendum. This obsessive work can take years, and the object's shape evolves unexpectedly—a spring becomes a tube, a sugar box a floral corolla. Cameron's practice aligns with conceptual art and was featured in the 2004 exhibition 'L'Œuvre en programme' at CAPC-Musée d'art contemporain de Bordeaux. The Addendum serves as both memory and proof of the labor, as visible change is imperceptible day-to-day. Cameron compares his work to Roman Opalka's lifelong number painting, emphasizing continuity and rigor. His method rejects deviation from the initial project, embracing repetition over invention. The resulting forms are paradoxically both precise and wandering, challenging the programmed approach from which they arise. The exhibition at Centre culturel canadien in Paris ran from 20 May to 11 September 2009.