Allan Diamond lives and breathes art. A painter himself, his passion is clear when walking through the Montreal Art Centre and Museum that he founded in 2010. “We became a non-profit organization in 2017, and then in 2020-2021, we became a museum,” he said. Some of his own work is on display, as well as art he’s been collecting for over 40 years. At a glance, many wouldn’t know what’s inside the Griffintown historic patrimonial building, which dates back to 1875. “We’ve been called the best kept secret,” Diamond says. Throughout the museum, there are pieces from around the world, including works from Picasso, Renoir and Cezanne. The non-profit’s mission is to help visual, performance, and film artists. “It’s not an easy life,” says Diamond. An emerging artist who currently has his latest work on the walls at the gallery is Olivier Bonnet. “People see my work and think and feel that it has a vintage feel to it,” he says. Close to 50 artists are currently using the non-profit’s studio space, and they get a chance to show off their work in the gallery. Bonnet’s latest exhibit helped him land another opportunity. “An art critic came to the vernissage and found my work really interesting. So he’s offered me to do a solo exhibition at the Centre Africa during the Jazz Festival,” he says. Bonnet says in a world with so much content available online, nothing can replace experiencing art in person. “People are bombarded with advertising images on social media, lots of video clips, etc... So this provides them a kind of quieter, more poetic moment of reflection.” The artist says he’s grateful to Diamond for supporting emerging talent. “I consider him to be a modern patron of the arts because he really encourages artists of different disciplines,” says Bonnet. And for Diamond, he just wants the budding talent to thrive. “The most important thing for our artists is the visibility,” he says.
