Order of Canada recipients, good friends Serge Chapleau (left) and Aislin share a love of MontrealDeux Solid Dudes – Aislin and Chapleau The Montrealer November 23, 2018 3555 Deux Solid Dudes – Aislin and Chapleau to host November 27th Lachine Hospital Foundation fundraiser Since its inaugural edition in 2014, the Lachine Hospital Foundation’s annual fall fundraising show has raised close to $160,000. Over the years, artists including Gregory Charles and legendary jazz pianist Oliver Jones have taken the stage, all in support of the modernization of the Lachine Hospital – the only community hospital of the MUHC. The 2018 edition of this event will be like no other. Chapleau & Aislin live “Deux Solid Dudes” will unite Montreal’s renowned editorial cartoonists Serge Chapleau and Aislin (Terry Mosher) for a retrospective look at their remarkable careers. Guests will get the inside track on what has inspired these artists over the years, and will be treated to a delightful and amusing presentation of their work. The show’s title, Deux Solid Dudes, is a wink to Hugh MacLennan’s novel Two Solitudes, about the perceived lack of communication between Anglophones and Francophones in Canada. The show will take place on Tuesday, November 27th, at Lachine’s intimate L’Entrepôt concert hall. CHAPLEAU Serge Chapleau was born in Montreal in 1945, and graduated from L’Ecole des Beaux-arts at 23. His first foray into the world of cartooning was in the early 1970s for the weekly magazine Perspectives. His career took off in 1972 when the magazine published a full-page color caricature – something unheard of at that time – of Quebec balladeer Gilles Vigneault. Chapleau claims that this event changed his life. He was then hired to draw for L’Actualité, Le Devoir and Montréal-Matin, among many others. In 1996, he became the in-house caricaturist at La Presse where he has worked ever since. Many Quebeckers immediately relate to Chapleau’s rendition of Gilles Duceppe sporting a hair net while visiting a cheese factory during the 1997 federal election campaign. AISLIN Born in Ottawa in 1942, Aislin, or Terry Mosher, also attended L’Ecole des Beaux-arts and graduated a few years before Chapleau. He went straight from school to cartooning for the Montreal Star, and in 1972 switched over to the Montreal Gazette. He has been there ever since then and now, in “semi-retirement” mode produces one caricature per week for the newspaper. His nom de plume is a rendition of the name of his eldest daughter, Aislinn. A long-time Lachine resident, Aislin wanted to support his community hospital and first approached the Foundation in 2015. “For several years running, Serge and I had been doing a presentation at the Canadian Club’s annual Christmas luncheon. We would show slides of our cartoons and talk about what prompted the ideas and the audiences loved it. I thought that something along the same lines would be a great concept for a fundraiser.” But that idea was put on hold, as 2016 and 2017 turned into whirlwind years in Aislin’s life: he worked on and self-published a book called From Trudeau to Trudeau – 50 years of Cartooning, and an exhibit of the same name at the McCord Museum. Once that wrapped up, the show headed west to museums in Ottawa and Toronto. The two artists immediately hit it off when they first met in the 1970s and their collaboration on the McCord exhibit solidified a unique friendship that has lasted for more than 30 years. Chapleau & Aislin live “Deux Solid Dudes” will take place at L’Entrepôt in Lachine on November 27th. Tickets are $95. For more information or to reserve tickets please call the Lachine Hospital Foundation at 514-637-2351 ext. 77333.
