News and Reviews of Art Exhibitions at the Belgo Building by Bettina Forget
I’m like a kid in a candy store! The Belgo’s galleries are open again after their summer hiatus, and the building is busy with visitors and vernissages. Here are my four favourite artworks culled from the most recent gallery openings:
Jérôme Fortin, Pierre-François Ouellette art Contemporain
Carlito Dalceggio, galerie sas
Left: Eric Simon, Galerie Division - Right: Z’otz Collective, Galerie Lilian Rodriguez
Yesterday evening the exhibition titled Autoportraits by Jérôme Fortin was launched at Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain.
How much do I love Fortin’s work? Let me count the ways… After admiring his super-sized Écrans at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal last year I was curious to see how his work would hold up in a smaller gallery setting. I’m glad to say it holds up just great. For this show his signature long, tightly folded strips of paper are draped over bamboo sticks which are suspended from the ceiling, reminiscent of kimono displays. In fact, this series has a strong Japanese vibe, certainly due to the fact that he produced these works during a residency at Japan’s Tokyo Wonder Site. The source materials he uses for this installation include colourful Japanese cartoons, maps from all over the world, and for one of the installations just simple grey-lined paper. Each piece beckons you closer, inviting close inspection. Admire the delicate, meticulous folds, figure out the original source of the paper being used, trace down a story. Take your time. This is work you’ll never tire looking at. In the back of the gallery you’ll find two smaller examples of his Écran series, and one of his Tondos, which brought Fortin to everyone’s attention (certainly mine) back in 2004.
If you’re going to the Belgo for just one show, make sure it’s this one.
Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain
space 216
Jérôme Fortin
Autoportraits
exhibition period: September 3 - October 17, 2008
www.pfoac.com
The dry spell is over! Galleries in the Belgo Building are about to open again for a busy autumn of art shows. It’s vernissages galore in the next few days! Get out your calendars - here’s the low-down on up-coming exhibition openings:
Vernissage Round-Up
September 3, 2008 (Wednesday)
Pierre François Ouellette Art Contemporain - Jérôme Fortin - 5:00pm - 7:00pm
Visual Voice Art Gallery - Mac McArthur - 6:00pm - 9:00pm
September 4, 2008 (Thursday)
L’!llustre Galerie - Alain Reno - 6:00pm
Galerie Division - Eric Simon - 6:00pm - 9:00pm
September 5, 2008 (Friday)
Centre des arts actuels Skol - Dominic Gagnon, Katherine Lapiere - 5:00pm
Galerie B-312 - Andrew Forster, André Martin - 5:00pm
September 6, 2008 (Saturday)
Galerie Projex-Mtl - Clément Plaisir - 3:00pm - 6:30pm
Galerie Luz - Elisabeth Garaghty, Wendy Watt, Marc Ledoux - 2:00pm - 5:00pm
Optica - Janice Kerbel, Claudia DelFierro - 3:00pm
September 11, 2008 (Thursday)
Galerie Joyce Yahouda - François Morelli - 5:00pm - 7:00pm
September 13, 2008 (Saturday)
Centre d’exposition CIRCA - 1200° Circa - 3:00pm - 6:00pm
There may be a few other openings happening in the building - I’ll let you know as soon as I find out!
Here’s my selection of four works of art currently on show at the Belgo building:
Left: Sorel Cohen, Galerie Donald Browne, Right: Martin Côté, L’!llustre Galerie
Left: Mac McArthur, Visual Voice Art Gallery, Right: Massimo Guerrera, Galerie Joyce Yahouda
Just launched today, the exhibition Gandhara Whisper at Visual Voice Art Gallery presents “pigment prints” by Mac McArthur.
Besides being an artist, McArthur also works for Engineers Without Borders, and has spent much of his time in Africa. It is there that he became captivated by the aesthetic of small African sculptures. Back home in his studio in Ontario, he developed a technique of placing these sculptures and other found objects directly onto a scanner and imaging them at extremely high resolution. The resulting prints have a unique, dark atmosphere. The low depth of field of the scanner creates images which are extremely detailed but suddenly vanish into a sombre blur. The effect is stunning. It is noteworthy that McArthur tracked down the artists who created the sculptures he scans, and pays them a substantial royalty whenever he makes a sale. He calls it “Fair Trade”. I call it awesome.
Visual Voice Art Gallery
space 421
Mac McArthur
Gandhara Whisper
exhibition period: August 28 - September 7, 2008
vernissage: September 3, 2008 6:00pm - 9:00pm
www.visualvoicegallery.com
You have until the end of the week to check out an exhibition of charcoal drawings by Martin Côté at L’!llustre Galerie.
Côté’s style is strongly reminiscent of 1930s Cubism - smooth curves and angular lines sweep across the paper. His portraits of Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, and Simone de Beauvoir are recognizable enough not to require the superfluous lettering identifying each personality. One entire wall is covered in classical life studies executed in the same decorative style, which demonstrate the artist’s proficiency in the medium.
L’!llustre Galerie
space 123
Martin Côté
Noir fusain
exhibition period: August 7 - 30, 2008
www.illustrationquebec.com
My weekly pick of art currently on display at the Belgo. Coincidentally, they’re all photographic works.
Isabelle Hayeur, Pierre François Ouellette Art Contemporain
Charles Stankievech, Galerie Donald Browne
Left: Marie-Reine Mattera and Emmanuel Joly, galerie sas,
Right: Andreas Rutkauskas, Projex-Mtl
I mentioned in a recent post how many artists exhibiting at the MAC Québec Triennial have had shows in one of the galleries in the Belgo building in the last few months. Adrian Norvid is one of them. If you enjoyed his “Bummer” 1960s electric organ currently on display at the Triennial, you’ll be glad to know that you can find more of his work at Galerie Joyce Yahouda’s summer show.
Norvid’s style could be described as “Pop Art meets Cartoon”. His cocky, irreverent drawings and gouaches have a distinct Rock ‘n Roll vibe. I think the drawing ominously titled The Dark Side of the Toast, hanging next to the painting of a packet of Twinings Earl Buggerall Tea is just hilarious. And though I don’t think 40 Sucks, his large-format drawing featuring portraits of various washed-out types certainly illustrates the sentiment depressingly well.
Galerie Joyce Yahouda
space 516
Sarah Bertrand-Hamel, Massimo Guerrera, Adrian Norvid… and other artists
Le rouge et le noir… et d’autres couleurs
exhibition period: June 26 – August 30, 2008
www.joyceyahoudagallery.com
Galerie Luz is currently presenting a series of canvases by Hoda Ackad titled Portraits.
Ackad paints portraits of iconic figures which have inspired her; among her “virtual mentors” are Henri Matisse, Georgia O’Keefe, Andy Warhol, Alfred Stieglitz and Coco Chanel. I particularly like Ackad’s large-format works. Her minimal, spontaneous brushstrokes capture the expression of her subjects as though she had been in the same room with them.
Galerie Luz
space 418
Hoda Ackad
Portraits
exhibition period: July 30 - August 16, 2008
Many galleries are closed in the Belgo for the month of August - but not all! Here are my favourite four artworks on show in the Belgo’s galleries this week:
Left: Chih-Chien Wang, Galerie Pierre-François Ouellete Art Contemporain,
Right: Rob Bos, Visual Voice Art Gallery
Right: Daniel Jackson, Galerie Projex-Mtl,
Left: Mike Patten, Visual Voice Art Gallery