Pingo
This exhibition is my second solo exhibition, 10 months after Human nature: nuée. Just like the first, I chose a decorative object that I modified, molded and then reproduced. Everything was set in the space around a classic Beaver candy machine, which I had filled with shards of ceramics. The machine being functional, it was possible for visitors to buy piece of art for only 25cents! The stand was custom made, out of steel that I had torch cutted. The shard thelmselves were either from artworks I did not like, or artworks that I did like, but sadly, did not make it.
The central work that poses above the candy machine is a double pillowcase on which I applied a stencil of the form Alligator-Toygun-Ak47. This form is found four times in the exhibition. You may also notice a small black bowl at the bottom of the wall. It contains the fragments of one of the works that was broken during the exhibition. But that's another story.
When composing my installations, the musicality and even sound aspect is always crucial. I organized so as to express a general sound, but in detail a more complex melody. Each piece is presented as a musical note, a chord, a phrasing in the whole set. Each of the works offers a truth of its own, but also in relation to his neighbor. It is thus true in its individuality, but the truth between two works lies precisely between the two. Like a pianist who can not use the bend technique like a guitarist, he has to provide the right note by finding the space between two keys. In this sense, the way the space between my artworks function is identical to the pianist's play. While one could say the artwork represent the individual notes, the installation, takes care of the rhythm and the cohesion. The arrangement of the installation offers a repetitive symphony composed of tries always more precise, just in their individuality and in their relation to the whole. Each repetition is a singular and yet common search common in the same spirit as that of the bluesman. A truth in and by its individuality, a truth in and by the whole.
I could also say a word about the paintings I presented. They all use the stencil principle, like the cyanotypes that work as photogram. I like this technique for its simplicity and its ability to reproduce precisely a shape. Moreover, what reveals the form is the trace left by its absence. An aura concentrating its inner existence defined by the background that it no longer occupies. It seems to me, from experience and observation, that "truth" is contained in things, but never clothes them. It is in the trace that one leaves behind him leaving the beaten path that he can perceive his own inner existence and it is by observing the open space left by the other now displaced that the one can see the truth. It is in this distance, that between the object and its shadow, that between the human and the things that the relationship is established and exists. It is in this that the truth arises. Without distance, there would be nothing. Neither object nor shadow; neither thing nor sense. The truth and the knowledge sought lie in this distance, this free field of the world in the opening that we create in the other and in its place in the reality.
Thanks:
I thank Sébastien Vachon, the molding technician from Laval University and my mentor. It was he who made me discover the ceramic molding, who welcomed me into his shop, who was conciliatory about the space (3 tables) that I occupied every day to produce my works, about the infinites cycles of cooking, and of course the good laughs!
I thank Jacques Samson for his help in the construction of the footing for the candy machine.
I thank Jean-Phillipe Harvey for the discussions in the workshop, the idea-concept that I could not formulate that for me art is a necessity as our human condition, and that in that sense it has something alimentary. He also opened my eyes to the possibility of using other mediums such as painting. The artist is not limited to his medium, and that's what pushed me to produce painting and show 4 of them at this exhibition.
I thank Tristan Alantar who came to play the zither for the opening. In addition, he organized and orchestrated a musical sound and dance performance with Rémy Bélanger of Beauport and Camille Conarroe, whom I also thank.
I thank, of course, my parents who supported me in my studies and my professional career.
