Vernissage on June 7, 2018, at 6 p.m.
Montreal, May 29, 2018 – From June 7 to September 7, 2018, the Espace VERRE Gallery presents Soirée croissants […], an exhibition featuring the works of the 2018 graduates of the Fine Craft – glass option programme offered in collaboration with the Cégep du Vieux Montréal. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 7 at 6 p.m. in presence of the artists: Yvain Boutier, Marie-Louise Brabant, Diane Champagnat-Becker, Justine Jacob, Pierre Lafourcade, Tomy Tremblay, and Clément Vieira.
For his piece Heisenberg, Yvain Boutier was inspired by the German physicist’s indeterminacy principle, which states that it is impossible to measure both position and momentum of a particle with complete accuracy at the same time. From this complex quantum theory, Boutier retains a very straightforward life lesson: humanity is not the center of the universe; human beings will never know everything. Like in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, our conception and reasoning become corrupted and deluded by the shadows on the wall; we no longer see things truly, chained by our attachments and delusions, we see the mere reflections of reality.
As a trained psychosociologist and philosopher, Marie-Louise Brabant is interested in the construction of self-identity. In her triptych Sortir du cadre, she uses the figure of the crow to illustrate the transitional steps of one’s development: from the comfort of the nest of childhood, through the awkwardness of adolescence, to the full emancipation sometimes reached in adulthood, which can only truly happen if you step out of the box to fly on your own wings.
Diane Champagnat-Becker delves into the underworld of hushed family secrets to create her own cabinet of curiosities. In her installation, seabed elements evoke things left unsaid and withheld confessions, while their exhibition under bell jars, inspired by the wunderkammer tradition, eerily puts them on display. The artist thus weaves a dialogue between the tangible and the intangible, between what is said and what is kept silent.
Worried about the outcome of our era, Justine Jacob sculpts the matter to capture the expressionless or tormented faces of men and women. All in all, these faces are the reflection of the multitude of people that she sees every day in the streets, tired of the mind-numbing routine of taking the subway, going to work, only to come home, sleep, and do it all over again. But within their apparent emptiness, the artist imagines something is bubbling, existing, and persisting behind those dead eyes…
Pierre Lafourcade‘s work is a real testimony of his love for comics. Full of refreshing humour, his hot-sculpted glass body parts were conceived to be interchangeable, as to create jocular and colourful compositions. Therefore, a brain can easily stick its tongue out at an eyeball which is attached to a finger, who in turn takes a peek at curvy legs wearing high heels! These works – with their bright colours and aesthetic inspired by pop art – transmit glee and joie de vivre that is second nature to the artist.
Charmed by the finesse of Venetian techniques, Tomy Tremblay‘s works Reticello & Reticella are a duo of delicate works, honouring the intricate and complex decorative techniques that they were named after. The filigree glass technique – a refined trellis motif created by intertwining colored canes – is in perfect unison with its lacemaking inspiration, which both originated in 16th-century Venice.
Coming to glass art as a stained glass restorer, Clément Vieira wants to breathe new life into stained glass. By combining symbols and current events to classical compositions and traditional expertise, his work yields surprising results. Indeed, he enjoys bridging the medieval period to the contemporary era, both time periods with their own lot of beauty and obscurantism.
Espace VERRE is a glass art school and creativity centre located at 1200 Mill Street in Montreal. The gallery is open from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., as well as the last Sunday of every month from noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free of charge.
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Photos: Michel Dubreuil et Espace VERRE
Source:
Valérie Paquin, responsable des communications
communication@espaceverre.qc.ca
514 933-6849