Separate but Equal : ‘From Quebec’ showcases the unique individuality of six artists from the Canadian province, but the works also convey aspects with a universal appeal.

The French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec will always have its own identity, regardless of whether it remains a part of Canada. But as one can see in the exhibit at Century Gallery, “From Quebec,” contemporary artists from this province belong to an international art community that stretches beyond Canada and the United States to Europe.

“From Quebec” presents for the first time in Los Angeles the work of six artists. The show was partly funded by a grant from the Cultural Ministry of Quebec.

Among the 24 pieces are paintings, drawings, prints and constructions that convey some of the universal interests of artists everywhere. Subject matter ranges from mankind’s effect on the environment to finding a sense of self within one’s environment. Traditional mediums have been adapted to fit personal styles.

“I’ve always been interested in art that is not so much in fashion, in artists that are marginal, singular, unique, who reflect their society but remain independent,” said Ninon Gauthier, the Montreal curator of the show.

“I enjoy the diversity that I see represented in the materials and approaches,” said Lee Musgrave, director of Century Gallery.

“Not everybody in Quebec is doing the same thing. There isn’t one of these styles that seems to overpower the others. They’re all equally visually strong.”

Gauthier, in the exhibit catalogue that accompanies the show, writes: “These artists are indeed original and unique, but they have something in common; they share an attachment to intimacy and mystery, in their delicate contemplation of the precious and fragile passing of time and in the visionary introversion which alludes to the spiritual dimension of a work of art. . . . What all these works have in common is a symbolic dimension, accentuated by the omnipresence of drawing.”

Painter and sculptor Marcel Barbeau, whose work in this show seems particularly engaging, has been exhibiting his art since the 1940s, when he was a member of an abstract Expressionist group, the Automatists. Today, his works can be found in most Canadian public art collections as well as at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Barbeau’s paintings, such as “De tes yeux aux miens” (From Your Eyes to Mine) present joyously colorful, irregular geometric forms that come together in a soft, harmonious way, giving a sense of delightful movement to each composition.

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Laurent Bouchard’s career began in the early 1980s, when he completed his master’s degree in fine arts at the Universite du Quebec a Montreal. His geometric constructions seem to float on the walls to which they are attached.

His “Stratege orbitale” (Orbital Strategus) appears like a hot-air balloon ascending skyward. “Ponere” bobs along like a sailboat on the water, with the painted whirling cuplike forms of its body propelling it as it goes.

The energetic, Expressionist paintings by Giuseppe Fiore, who was born in Italy in 1931 and has lived in Quebec since 1952, are mostly abstract, but the figurative “Le bolide” (Hot Shot Car) depicts an attractive, sleek car and driver.

Yvette Froment studied art at the Universite de Montreal in the late 1970s, and has been exhibiting her representational paintings since the early ‘80s. Her round acrylic on canvas “Exploitation du patrimoine” (Exploitation of Heritage) portrays small men and a large vehicle set against the rocks of earth, calling into question man’s treatment of the Earth as well as man’s treatment of man.

Suzanne Joubert’s current focus is on environmental issues, after first being associated with the feminist art movement of the early ‘70s. She grew up in a Montreal suburb and received her master’s degree in fine arts from the Universite du Quebec a Montreal.

If one merely glances at her “Red Alarm,” one takes in the colors of the fall season. A closer look offers a significantly less enchanting notion: a forest ablaze, the flames billowing out of control. The bones of a bird lie in a box attached to the acrylic on wood painting.

“Foret a intervalle” (Spaced-Out Forest) is not the healthiest of forests either, with its ghostly, almost surreal tree trunks, which have a tenuous connection, at best, to the earth below.

Printmaker Louis Pelletier completed his art education at the Ecole des beaux-arts de Montreal in the late 1960s before apprenticing with two printmakers, one of whom specialized in the mezzotint process. His large, complex mezzotint, “Structure anatomique I & II” (Anatomical Structure), took first prize at this year’s International Print Biennial in Poland.

WHERE AND WHEN

What: “From Quebec.”

Location: Century Gallery, 13000 Sayre St., Sylmar.

Hours: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. Ends Oct. 7.

Call: (818) 362-3220.