GROUP EXHIBITION | FLUCTUATION
From September 14 through October 25, 2023, the Espace VERRE gallery will present FLUCTUATION, a group exhibition featuring eight emerging glass artists. Espace VERRE has chosen to celebrate its 40th Anniversary by using the concept of molting as a theme. While this living metaphor represents the natural process of transformation, it also reflects the inner capacity of life to renew, evolve and reinvent itself. In the animal kingdom, molting carries a profound signification symbolizing both a physical and a spiritual metamorphosis guiding each living creature towards new horizons. In the Human realm, molting manifests itself in different ways: the transition between childhood and adulthood, the periods of self-questioning, even the societal transformations that upset our established beliefs. It reminds us that we have the power to shed our burdens, our old identities, and to embrace the new with renewed vigor. The fear of change gives way to the anticipation of the unknown, the curiosity of what is yet to come. In this case, fluctuation is perceived from an artistic expression approach in the sphere of human emotions. Like an impressionist painting, our internal life is painted in various nuances and tints, creating a complex mosaic of sentiments that constantly fluctuates. The artists Pamela Boissonneault, Dorothée Bouliane, Dylan Duchet, Alexi Garneau, Charlie Larouche-Potvin, Sécrétion Féline, a duo consisting of Diane Champagnat-Becker and Nicolas Forlini, and Clément Vieira are proposing works that will engage us to think, dream and interpret in a very intense exhibition.
To express her artistic ideas, Pamela Boissonneault uses the technique of pâte de verre and lost wax. This allows her to create glass works imbued with mystery while being colorful and lively. Fascinated by the weirdness of 20th century horror films, she draws from their elements of deconstructed bodies which are then represented in her work. Perceiving both physiological and psychological human criteria in current technologies, she is inspired by them to propose a grim vision of the future of humanity, in which the robot and mankind will be part of a single composition.
Transported by poetry and narration, Dorothée Bouliane sculpts with pâte de verre. This permits her to reveal imaginary worlds presented through her own personal experience and sensitivity. Through her creations, the artist addresses the strangeness of human existence and the relative nature of our perceptions. She wonders in the context of this exhibition about the difficulty that humans have in learning from their mistakes and about their stubbornness in rushing into unlimited, harmful and destructive consumption. Human societies are the source of many scientific discoveries leading to technological advances, positive developments which however do not benefit everyone. Dorothée Bouliane offers us her representation of modern society, filled with collective pain and corrupted by the negative aspects of its successive transformations.
Dylan Duchet devotes himself to the technique of blown glass while integrating engraving and screen printing into his work. In his artistic practice, he researches the movement of natural landscapes and merges this raw beauty with a graphic style of creation. Abstract lines find refuge on sleek glass objects. The artist presents a work of personal inspiration, symbolizing the laborious transformation of the complex and anxious being that aspires to find peace of mind. The imaginary is thus mobilized on a timeline taking the form of the passage from inner turmoil to a coveted serenity.
Alexi Garneau‘s artistic approach integrates light and sketches in glass, making his works look like glass drawings with elegant and electric lines. Whether with borosilicate or neon, the physical contact with glass, during creation, gives him more freedom, finesse and understanding of the material. Inspired by a quote from the writer Charles Bukowski:”You must die a few times before you can really live”, the neonist offers a fascinating interpretation of the cycles of transformation of human beings. Staging a succession of metaphorical deaths and luminous rebirths, it offers the hope of deliverance, a path to the other side of this “death of self”, towards appeasement and peace.
It was through the manufacture of goblets inspired by Venetian traditions that Charlie Larouche-Potvin began his conversation with glass. Delicate objects, made for centuries on the island of Murano, which demonstrate through the choreography required for their creation all the whims and all the virtues of the material. Whether by creating pieces drawn from a fantastic imagination or by working on the technical precision of more refined objects, he conceives the making of each object as an interview with glass. The artist presents a phantasmagorical story featuring the fish and the dragon, two traditional Venetian animals. In this story, one transforms into the other, thus reaching, in “a fiery roar, covered in gold, a flaming roar flying away, escaping the bitter deluge”, a state of grace and liberation.
Sécrétion Féline, a duo formed by Diane Champagnat-Becker and Nicolas Forlini, explores the limits of social and political structures by responding to them in an absurd way. The artists, observing the future unfold, sense the certainty of the shifting social, environmental, economical and political landscapes. As artists and citizens, they wonder about the issues related to their immediate impact, while their art mixes, intertwines and unravels with the fundamental questions of tomorrow. Sécrétion féline’s installation illustrates their thinking by staging the social body in all its complexity and what it leaves behind, at each stage of transformation.
Conceiving glass as a language, Clément Vieira’s work is a mix of European and North American influences. His works reflect traditional elements, mainly from the Middle Ages, using the techniques of painting on glass, fusion, stained glass, as well as blown glass and pâte de verre. The artist brings us back to the “Covid years”, which have, in many respects, profoundly transformed us. The “whatever it takes” and the “never again” were to be the foundations of a new world. With confinement reminding some, and teaching others, of the emptiness of their lives, a transformation of our societies was expected. However, deprived of pleasure, the Western world has only consumed more. The work, a chronological frieze articulated around blown disks, reveals key moments in the evolution of our societies.