Raymond Pilon aka Zilon Lazer was born on July 25, 1956, in Sainte Rose, Laval, Quebec, where he lived and went to school. During the late 70s, he began spraying his graffiti art on Sainte Rose's empty outdoor surfaces. In 1980, he moved to Montreal where he would meet Diane Lassonde and Daniel Marcoux, two important people in his personal and public life and the beginning of a 43 year friendship between them.
Rewind to the fall of 1978. While I was on a flight to Montreal, Quebec in search of a new life, Zilon Lazer was busy covering the dark streets, back alleys and nightclubs of Montreal with his signature black graffiti slogans and screaming faces. He regularly held midnight candlelight Graffiti Cocktail parties in dark tunnels, abandoned buildings and outdoor disused places he uncovered. Via word of mouth, Zilon invited others to participate in the impromptu jams, which he continued to hold court into 1986.
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| Zilon en Action Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Graffiti Cocktail Happening Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| In an abandoned warehouse Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| The Tunnel Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Montréal Est Au Centre 1986 Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
Zilon and I travelled parallel paths in those raw, wonderful 1980s Montreal counterculture underground scene until our paths crossed in late 1983. One night while at Les Foufounes, he dropped by and we began talking synths and music. In his words: "I had heard about Duotang and wanted to plug in my synthesizer and make music with you".
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| Zilon's EMS Synthi Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| At Le St-Sulpice Patio after recording all day Photo Daniel Coté © 1983 |
We rented time in a fully equipped home studio on the Plateau and began recording and rehearsing for our first show, which would be at the club and would continue for many more over the years.
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| At Les Foufounes 1984 Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| At Les Foufounes 1984 Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
This was the beginning of an unconditional, incredible 4 year journey of impromptu live shows, art exhibitions, and an adventurous, no-holds-barred 40 year friendship between us. Zilon was a real futurist, in his art and in his music. He lived by his creed "Do it for yourself".
Zilon took a lot of risks getting his message across, was fearless, bold and never stopped working for a moment. He was fueled by an inner furnace of energy and the love for his work. I'm forever grateful and honored to have met and worked with him.
"March 2023 - We're living in granny times, Vava. Not like the good 'ole 70s and 80s."
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| At Danceteria, NYC Photo Daniel Falgerho © 1983 |
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| At the original Club Soda on Parc for the First Anniverssary of the Montreal Mirror Photo by Guy L'Heureux 1986 |
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| At Save The Robots, NYC May 1984 Photo by Daniel Falgerho |
Thank you very much to Diane Lassonde for generously sharing her private and personal photos of Zilon taken in the 1980s in Montreal. These photos show a very different side of him, which very few people were privy to. What wonderful memories you must have of him Diane and now we have those memories of him too! Such a beautiful gift!
Diane took the following photo of Zilon at the McGill University faculty of music between 1980-83.
"When we lived together we would go to the music building and wait outside the doors to access the floor where the pianos were. We didn't have the code to unlock the door so we would pretend we were shuffling through our stuff waiting for a student to come out so we could slip in. Then we would go to an empty room with the cassette recorder and Raymond would record some piano sequences he would then work on once we were back home. This brings back such beautiful and emotional memories."
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| At the McGill faculty of Music Photo by Diane Lassonde © 1980-1983 |
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| Photo by Diane Lassonde © 1980 |
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| Photo by Diane Lassonde © 1980 |
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| Photo by Diane Lassonde © 1980 |
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| Photo by Diane Lassonde © 1980 |
┴╤╤╤╤╤╤╤╤┴
"Pourquoi j'aime la musique? Parce que ça m'inspire à dessiner.
Quand j’écoute de la musique je danse avec mon crayon.”
Anecdote by Daniel Marcoux
We lived in the same suburb, the same neighborhood. It was there that I discovered his talent, thanks to his graffiti attacks and paintings on the walls of the chalet in the park in front of his home.
I
didn't meet him until the spring of 1980, just like Diane...
François
Alfred Mignault aka ''moon / dog'' and I went to see the Urbanzz Project Phase
2 performance at Véhicule Art. We brought things to offer them. Afterwards,
"lion / lazer" contacted us and invited us to his place. That's where
we became friends for the next 43 years.
I
became his confidant because I was a good listener and I was rather reserved
and impressed by his charisma. Then, little by little, I became his archivist,
by force of circumstance. My nickname was ''hermes / hermetic'', I took photos
and recorded as much as I could with the means available at the time. The '80s
were quite eventful, and you know something about it, you were part of that
intense movement. A whole series of ephemeral formations followed one another
to the rhythm of Raymond's teeming imagination. The Neonz, Urbanzz, Herksss,
Fake Dancers, Philip Save and the Roomz, etc etc etc.... Sometimes it only
lasted for an evening, or a recording... improvisation and spontaneity were
Raymond's mottos throughout his life. He was in a perpetual state of creation,
either in the heat of the moment or in his thoughts, always with his brain on
ON night and day.
I
wasn't always there to witness all his adventures. He was hard to follow, like
a free electron. He moved around in different circles with people who didn't
necessarily know each other. He always compartmentalized his friendships, his
artistic and personal relationships. But there were also some wonderful
encounters between the people who gravitated around him. (I have a special
thought for Paul Antoniades, whom I would never have met without my friendship
with Raymond).
In
the 90s, as he became more popular and recognized, I let go of the now
impossible task of archiving everything. Others took over, especially on the
visual art, painting and mural side. Nevertheless, we kept in touch and
continued to see each other through all this turmoil and his atypical
trajectory.
In
1998, when our apartment burned down, I lost many documents and archives from
those two decades, but the most precious things, like all his tapes, films and
videos, were miraculously saved.
Then,
in the early 2000s, we formed a sound duo, Zïlon / Dantenax = Ville Froide. We
met almost every weekend for our Sunday sessions, and gave several performances
in various alternative venues: Atom Heart the record store, Memoria for an all-nighter
and at all his gallery openings, then for several performances by François
Alfred at Les Foufounes Électriques... The list goes on... but the most
memorable moments were those spent just between us, improvising simply for the
fun of it, and raving about hypothetical future projects that we knew were
totally unrealistic. Our last sound session was in May 2023, undoubtedly his
last performance ever, and he concluded after listening to the whole thing that
it was really crap 💩 apart from one or two brief passages that seemed
interesting... He was very aware and self-critical of his good or bad moves,
but more than anything else what I remember about my sound-mate, by
brother-in-art was his sense of humor and self-derision.
I'm
going to miss that big grumpy lion 🦁...
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| Zilon/Christ embracing his revisited suburban land Photo by Daniel Marcoux © 2022 |
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| Early Neonz graffiti appearance in the night Photo by Daniel Marcoux © circa 1979 |
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| Last & horizontal posture of Zilon appreciating quiet nature & a Martini in March Photo by Daniel Marcoux © 2023 |
Anecdote by Jenny Tousignant
I discovered Zilon's work during my visits to Montreal before moving to the city a few years later.
Starting in 2010, using my creations under the pseudonym Hybrid Boy, I flirted with the artistic and underground art scene of the city. Zilon thus became one of these virtual acquaintances, a friend of friends that I met here and there.
We have spoken a few times, especially in recent years. I felt privileged that he appreciated my photographs, each of his "likes" encouraging my creations. He also liked the pictures of my "godchild cat" shared on social media; he told me he missed the presence of felines after losing his ginger cat in 2018.
As a human artist living with melancholic nostalgia, he undoubtedly liked to have his talent recognized. So I took pleasure in telling him that I thought of him after seeing his works.
In March 2023, I asked him if he would like to participate in the "David en Arts" project of the Fonds David S. Coquereau. I believed that Zilon's interpretation of David would be magnificent and important. We discussed it briefly, arranging to meet another time to discuss the details and the price of such an order. Unfortunately, he left us before this and that remains a regret for me.
I can't speak of him as a close friend, but I would have liked to known him better. I feel we could have chatted transparently if we could have gotten past the shyness stage.
Jenny Tousignant
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
The following photos are from Zilon's personal archives which he graciously sent to me in March of this year while working on videos for the Vava Vol & Zilon Lazer Legacy Album - Vol. 2.
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| Abandoned warehouse Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Abandoned Montreal Hotel Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Zilon with his mom Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Cover of the Montreal Mirror Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Zilon with good friend Chris Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Zilon at his old apartment on deBordeaux Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| One of Zilon's creeds Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Zilon in action Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Zilon in action Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Courtesy of Zilon |
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| Zilon at a jam Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Zilon's cat Mephisto Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Photo Guy L'Heureux © 1986 |
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| Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Tools of the trade Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Plugged in Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| 1980s Multitracker Fostex Courtesy of Zilon Lazer |
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| Courtesy of Francis Trancis DesRuisseaux |
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| Self-Portrait by Zilon Lazer Courtesy of Francis Trancis DesRuisseaux |
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| Francis at Les Foufounes Électriques Make up by Zilon That's Elyse off to the left! |
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| Francis' make up by Zilon Lazer for an Alex Espinoza fashion show Courtesy of Francis Trancis Des Ruisseaux |
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