The painter Raymond Pilon, known in the world as Zïlon, marked the history of street art in Montreal. A figurehead of the punk movement and the counter-culture in Quebec, his works continue to inspire a new generation of artists. His death was announced by the Beauchamp Art Gallery on Saturday morning.
The man whose murals shaped the history of street art was born in 1956. He had just celebrated his 67th birthday last Tuesday. He was found unresponsive at his home in Montreal on Friday. The cause of his death is the subject of a coroner’s inquest, his agent, Vincent Beauchamp, of the Beauchamp Art Gallery, told La Presse.
Mr. Beauchamp alerted the police after not hearing from Raymond Pilon for a few days. The artist had a project planned in Quebec this week. He participated in a dissertation on his work led by the son of Mr. Beauchamp. He was preparing a new exhibition.
“Yes, it’s been 30 years that Zïlon has always talked about suicide, death in his work, but we think that there may also be a natural cause [to his death], because he had problems with health for a long time,” adds Mr. Beauchamp, shocked by the news.
“When you pay attention to the work [of Zïlon], there is always a character who comes back, testifies Mr. Beauchamp. He said that it was this character who saved him all his life and who pushed him to paint. »
“He’s an extraordinary, important artist who always dreamed big, but who never achieved the recognition he would have liked to have,” says host Geneviève Borne.
Behind the slightly gruff man, Zïlon was very sensitive. “A sweet hater who screamed love me,” as she describes in a touching tribute posted on social media.
She had read the text to him at a vernissage at the Diane-Dufresne art center in Repentigny a few years ago.
“He was a long-time accomplice,” she said in an interview with La Presse. The two were brought together by their love of art, fashion, and their admiration for David Bowie.
“The first time we collaborated was at a Halloween party. I said I didn’t have a suit and he said, “I’ll fix that for you.” He completely lined my face with eyeliner! “recalls Geneviève Borne fondly.
They collaborated twice at the Festival Mode Design, shared the turntables during evenings where they were DJs. “I was getting into his stuff all the time,” says the host.
Despite his great talent, the opportunities did not jostle. The one who constantly loved to explore new media faced “financial challenges, life challenges, health challenges”.
“He was someone who was extremely proud of his art and his approach, who was in great need of love and admiration,” she says.
Zïlon is considered the father of Quebec street art. “He invented this current, he developed it and he maintained it all his life”, confirms Mr. Beauchamp.
Its distinctive layout covered the streets and murals of the metropolis. A true figurehead of the punk movement, Raymond Pilon experienced the bars and feverish weekends of the 1980s in New York and Montreal, says Mr. Beauchamp.
Le Business bar in Montreal, now closed, was one of the first places dedicated to immersive art in Quebec. “The walls, the counters, the ceilings, the floors, it was all Zïlon,” says Beauchamp.
On social networks, tributes to the work of Zïlon quickly began to rain. “This morning, I reread the many emails we exchanged, they are filled with images of your creations, your poses as sexy as your characters. Your works are for me a punch in the heart, an inspiration, a reference”, testified the singer Diane Dufresne.
“I wake up with a heavy heart this morning,” responded La Guilde gallery director France Cantin. “Those who knew him know that he was not always easy going, even pleasant, but he was a deeply sensitive, endearing, even funny person at times. I had an incredible experience with him that changed me forever. »
“There have been more than fifty openings by visual artists in my restaurant Soupçon Cochon, Christyna Pelletier testified online. But the one that marked me the most is not so much the collective that was exhibiting at that time, but my meeting with Zïlon. A discreet character, but at the same time exuberant. »
In 2019, the Écomusée du fier monde dedicated a retrospective exhibition to Zïlon. In 2022, the exhibition Vandale de Lüxe$$ was presented at the Museum of Fine Arts of Mont-Saint-Hilaire. A sequel was in the works, according to Beauchamp.
His most recent mural is in the auditorium of the Théâtre Le Diamant in Quebec City. The fresco pays homage to the unleashed Shoeclack, a mythical bar in the capital. It is protected by glass, the main reason why he agreed to paint it, points out Mr. Beauchamp. Indeed, Zïlon decried the tags that now disfigure urban art.
In recent years, Zïlon’s works have been collected and cataloged to prevent them from becoming dispersed, he adds. “Raymond Pilon had no more room in his studio, in his apartment, things had been squandered,” says Mr. Beauchamp. Last June, we finished all his storage space for his murals, his works, he adds. Fortunately, everything is there, everything has been compiled. »
