The brilliant signature of Marie-Claire Blais

Architect by training. Therefore, passed to contemporary art for more than 20 years and a fine flower of so-called abstract painting, Marie-Claire Blais has fun this summer with her first individual exhibition in a Quebec museum. Nevertheless, In place for the long term at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MBAM). Moreover, Surge Perhaps not its biggest exhibition-the Canadian Cultural Center, in Paris, and the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, in the suburbs of Toronto, brought together larger sets in 2018 and 2019. Consequently, But it is ” [sa] More ambitious ”. Meanwhile, according to the text to be read in the preamble, in particular because it contains a work in 22 panels, one of its most important as to its size.

It is enough to cross the door of the square of contemporary art to grasp the extent of the ambition. Meanwhile, Created according brilliant signature marie-claire blais to this subsoil room dedicated to active artists, Surge almost alone occupies space. Moreover, Yes, there are also paintings on the walls, but the title work dominates. Moreover, Monumental, suspended, very close to the ground, it imposes itself on the look. For example, Curved at one of its ends. For example, this painting-sculpture with pastel blue and pink colors dear to the artist invites, like a floating shell, to navigate with it or, at least, around it.

It must be circumvented, this Surgeto understand that it does not form a blind, but translucent wall. Consequently, The 22 canvases that make it up are in jute. Furthermore, a material that Marie-Claire Blais has adopted from a creation residence in Mexico in 2013. Fiber imperfections inspired her special treatment, including the withdrawal of wires. These are the orifices thus created which, in the MBAM, make the light swept.

The work scinders not only brilliant signature marie-claire blais the square of contemporary art in two. but it also influences the way we look, to orient herself in the room. By its dimensions. its vaulted form, it reminds of the steel art of Richard Serra and in particular of Titled ArcNew York public sculpture made famous for the controversy which accompanied it to its dismantling.

Far from the rigid opacity and massive character in Serra, Surge Breathe lightness, does not obscure, does not oppress. We cannot touch the work, neither that one nor the others, but his experience is almost tactile. Recto verso, like a sheet printed on both sides, she establishes a back and forth around her. The concave structure determines an external part. another interior, and it is in a report of disclosure, in a relationship of intimacy that the visit takes place.

Marie-Claire Blais has often worked around ” [l’]ambivalence between interior and exterior ”. “” [L]he brilliant signature marie-claire blais limits both material. psychic, she wrote about a 2014 work (Glimpse) condition our space experience [ce sont des] unconscious schemes that veil our desire to understand and see beyond. »»

The six paintings on the walls. all overseas of the same title (Fragile balance), seem to be the exact opposite of the suspended installation. Vertical or horizontal in shape, they present themselves as accordions: the canvases form a series of folds. We imagine that, unfolded, the two largest would reach the extent of Surge.

Brilliant signature marie-claire blais

A release

Carried by the same bluish. rosy shades, as well as by variants which tend towards purple or orange, the Fragile balance Also create a feeling of movement, colorful wavelets whose succession evokes the change of light, the flow of time. According to another interpretation, this withdrawal, this fragility, is synonymous with constraint. The monumental work therefore equals a release. the influx of brilliant signature marie-claire blais light, the revelation of what (we) weaves, qualities as defects.

A last element, sound this one, also helps to imagine a displacement, to “see beyond”. This addition appears a bit superfluous, although the artist’s will to spatialiser His art has always been present. Amplified bodythe sound work carried out with the contribution of Pascal Grandmaison. the artist-party of the life of Marie-Claude Blais, draws his source, among others, from the friction of a brush used to apply the painting on the canvas. This audio diving in the workshop takes the form of a poetic documentary.

Behind this first museum of the Montreal artist is Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre, conservative of contemporary Quebec and Canadian art. The one who signs with Surge His first exhibition since his arrival in MBAM in June 2023 had already worked with Marie-Claire Blais. as part of a group demonstration at the Joliette art museum.

About Drunkenness of depthsthe brilliant signature marie-claire blais work of 18 panels exhibited in Joliette. Anne-Marie St-Jean Aubre writes that the feeling of movement “evokes both a gushing and a withdrawal”. “At the foot of this landscape on the hesitant horizon. ” she continues, “refusing to force her expansion to the limits of the frame,” we wonder: are we intoxicated by dawn prefiguring a new start or we rather hear the song of twilight, announcing the depths of the night? Additionally, »» Surge is part of this same questioning, while offering another adventure, less dark than the previous one.

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