Art entered Bates’ life not through painting, but music. Then came collages and short video edits, made on his first iPhone. As a teenager, he explored visual language using tools like Photoshop, which became his first experimental playground—before canvas—and briefly led him to study visual arts right out of high school. But school couldn’t contain his creative current. He left the institution to fully commit to his own process.

It was in his backyard—canvas rolls clipped to a clothesline, aerosol cans in hand—that he began to embrace gesture and form a deep connection with what would become his primary medium. Freed from expectation or structure, he discovered what he calls the wild, raw nature of painting: “That’s when I realized how much freedom I could have while painting.”

For the past ten years, painting has been part of his daily rhythm. He returns to it almost every day, guided by a certainty: “It’s what I feel best at—and what I know I need to push all the way.” His instinctive, anti-formulaic approach avoids rigid codes or fixed expectations. He embraces letting go: a free-flowing physicality where form and colour settle into the canvas with room for the unexpected.

In Bates’ world, surrender becomes an aesthetic. His paintings pulse with energy, breathing through bold colours and raw, intuitive movements. From the beginning, he built his palette around alternative tones of primary colors—red, yellow, and blue—and their pastel variations.

“I like the idea that anyone could use the same materials as me, but if we all follow our own impulses, the results will never be the same. To me, that just reinforces how important spontaneity is—and how much I value the uniqueness of my own gesture.”

Bates often works in series, repeating a process until he exhausts its possibilities and uncovers every nuance. Each canvas begins with a first gesture that dictates its composition, then colour follows.

Mephisto holding one of the paintings made during his stay at BESIDE Habitat Lanaudière.

Recently, during a residency at BESIDE Habitat, he intentionally tried to disrupt his own habits—stepping away from familiar territory. “I really like big open spaces where I feel like I’m not disturbing anyone,” he says. The remote setting became fertile ground for near-continuous creation: Bates completed ten works in just two days.

Nature, far more than a backdrop, emerged as a silent collaborator, shaping the dialogue between the artist and the space. Bates describes painting the way he breathes. Each act of creation is an immersion in the present moment.

“I wake up and I create. That’s how I start my day.” Music is a constant companion—sometimes podcasts too. Ideally, both at once.

In moments like these, the environment doesn’t just inspire; it intervenes. It shapes the work as much as the material itself. But his practice doesn’t end with the painting: the titles he gives his works act like a second layer of paint—infused with humour, spontaneity, and sometimes absurdity. His goal isn’t to explain, but to play.

“I want to throw people off, make the viewer smile, avoid easy interpretations. The title shouldn’t guide; it should open the door to the unknown.”

‍

‍

‍

‍

In 2019, Mephisto Bates presented his first major solo exhibition, Rétrospective, at Maison Bélisle in Terrebonne, where he showed nearly 350 works. He’s also collaborated with several festivals, including the Festival Mode & Design and Festival Santa Teresa. In parallel, he continues to create music, including the EP Conversation With Elisha Gray, where his sound work mirrors his visual approach—raw, direct, and unapologetically his own.

This recent retreat into nature rekindled something essential: the urgency to create with abandon.

“It reminded me that I have to go all in—completely,” he admits.

Because Mephisto Bates creates to free himself. And through his work, he invites others to do the same.

‍

Cultural recommendations

• Podcast: Coeur de robot
• ‍Music: The album All My Heroes Are Cornballs by JPEGMAFIA is one of my all-time favorites!
• And my most recent discovery: Access, Release! (Room Recording) by jaso.