Exhibit: Hors Pairs, 2003.
Location: Darling Foundry Art Centre, Montreal.
Installation, Museology, Curation.
This exhibition was about recognizing two important figures in Montreal culture; more specifically, two outsiders, who, while acting from the margins of society, were both integral parts of their communities, and making a tremendous social impact. This was about building local identity through support for home-grown heroes. As curator, I was very involved with the artists, and made the bridge for them to be able to show within a recognized institution. I also used my art/architecture background to design and build all museological elements.
Title: Inside, 2003
Exhibit: Metasite (ECube)
Location: Montreal, St. Anne Park.
This steel sculpture was created for ECube’s public exhibition of 9 emerging artists.
As curator/artist, I guided the group of artists towards finished works, ready for public space.
Inside is a minimalist work that points equally to our life force from a spiritual perspective, as it refers to our biological state, evolving from a simple tube.
Title: Arc in an Arch (Artch), 1996
Location: École Mare Aubry, Château-Thierry, France
Permanent in situ installation
This 12 ton cast-concrete arc was made with a group of children. Each block was created by one child, and cast separately. The blocks include encased objects, which have personal meaning to the children and their families (broken dishes, damaged clocks, etc.).
The installation is intended to be a monument, memorializing the lives of the municipality's inhabitants, allowing the children the unique opportunity to participate in building an element of the permanent urban environment.
Title: Meteorite, 1997
Exhibit: Panique au Faubourg, Quartier Éphémère
Location: Cadieux Foundry, Montreal, Canada
Insitu installation
In an abandoned foundry, where nothing had changed in the decades since the business closed its doors (when the eldest of the three founders died), a meteorite was suspended above a mound of charcoal (from the site) crowned with a circle of white marble. The same meteor was shown in various angles on enlarged photographs that were installed on the shop's vitrines. Below these photos, three caps were hung, these were the work caps of the three men who once worked in the foundry. The meteorite refers to the ancient origins of metallurgy, before the existence of mining (when meteorites were the only source of metal).
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Title: Work Site (Chantier), 1991
Location: Usine Éphémère, Méru, France
Solo show, paintings, installations.
This exhibition is a proposition to engage, a work/study space for visitors to explore: hence the installations of tools and work implements. A massive wedge of chalk, mined directly on site, reflected light onto the groups of paintings. The letter-format paintings on paper were a lexicon, showing a linguistic progression: abstract symbols evolve towards figurative representations.
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Title: Proposition for Three Tunnels, 1999.
Exhibit: Darling Foundry Art Centre
Location: Wellington Tunnels, Montreal, Canada.
Insitu installation, soundscape.
Three abandoned tunnels were transformed for 2 months with an immersive sound and sculpture installation. The sound component included three separate recordings that were broadcast from each tunnel. The first tunnel had a triangular steel platform, which extended deep into the gently sloped tunnel in such a way that the distant end point touched the ceiling. The platform held just under one foot of water, and, while reflecting light on the ceiling, gave the (trompe l'oeil) impression of an infinite surface. The sound was limited to bass range, and the bass vibrations created a disturbance on the waters surface which could be seen on the arched ceiling. The second tunnel was the location of live performances (Sophie Macdonald) of a singer dressed in a white wedding dress. The sounds were limited to midrange. The third tunnel spewed clouds of dense water vapour, and the sounds were limited to high frequency. In front of the tunnels, an 'amphitheatre' space allowed the sounds to mix, naturally forming a full spectrum sound, blending the low, midrange, and high frequencies. The composition was focussed on a non-referential a-cultural experience. The three compositions were each of varied lengths and looped upon themselves in such a manner that the overall music never repeated itself during the entire duration of the two month installation.
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Title: Suspenchaises, 1999
Exhibit: Final Show Before Demolition, Insitu installation.
Location: Usine Ephemere, Paris, France
This installation was created for the Usine Ephemeres final show; all of the works were demolished with the buildings.
An accumulation of discarded wooden chairs (salvaged from the streets of Paris) were suspended over a cavity (dug through the building in a deep hole, extending to the actual layers of natural ground); above, the skylights were removed: thus, offering the impression of an ascending vortex of chairs pushing out from below, escaping into the sky. The hole was surrounded by a large circle of black mineral, and the walls were blackened to increase the floating isolation of the piece. Light shone up from the depths of the hole, being captured by a column of phosphorescent paint (applied to the chairs) added to the visual sensation of weightlessness in space.
Title: Sight/Site, 2000
Exhibit: Jardins Secrets
Location: Paris, Hopital Charles Foix.
Insitu installation.
This suspended steel cross filled with water, employed ultrasonic waves to produce water mist on its surface. Located within the grounds of a public hospital, the cross is a universal reference to health, as well as a symbol for “you are here”.
Title: Circle Within a Circle, Spring, 2019
Exhibit: Understory
Location: Dart's Hill Garden, Surrey, B.C., Canada.
Insitu installation.
Four slabs of cedar, harvested from a tree that fell during a powerful wind storm in the park, are installed within a catch-basin. The tree was planted by the garden's founder, Francisca Dart, who bequeathed the garden to the city with a 999 year lease. This lease was the point of departure for the conception of Circle Within a Circle. This amazing timespan inspires us to project out into time with our minds. Hemispherical bowls were rough-cut into the centres of the cedar slabs, producing an asterix, invoking expansion even as it draws us into its heart. This is a contemplative timepiece, meant to initiate the viewer on a journey through various degrees of time conception. In the middle, we begin with the smallest of points, a grain of time; next, we expand out to the moments, or the human 'now' (about 2 seconds), represented within the bowl by the cuts (moments = efforts), which can also be read as the seconds of a clock. These fundamental nuggets of awareness combine to form the body of our experience (adding them together to build memory): this is the bowl, which constitutes the 'chapters' of our personal narrative. As we expand further, we count the years passing via the tree rings, until we arrive to an entire lifespan (the full slab). This trajectory, once initiated, can continue to grow beyond ourselves, to the planet, to the solar system, to the galaxy and to the universe.
Someone once asked Buddha if the universe was infinite. Buddha answered, 'Indeed, relative to human consciousness, the universe is infinite; however, in fact, the universe is finite.' Astounded, the person inquired: 'Then how long does the universe exist?'. Buddha said: 'Imagine an eagle clutching a delicate silk scarf... Once a year, the eagle flies over the world's tallest mountain, gently brushing the peak with the scarf.... Eventually, the entire mountain is eroded to nothing... That is the full age of the universe.' Stephen Hawking decided to do the math...calculating the density of a silk scarf, the friction between the mountain stone and the silk, the number of particles that would be brushed off (factoring-in altitude and weather), and the total number of particles in the world's tallest mountain. The unspeakably enormous number turned out to be exactly the same as the lifespan of atoms; a result that Hawking claims cannot be coincidence.
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Titre: Hermitage (1/20,000). 1996
Exhibit: Signaux, Seuils
Location: University of Rouen, France
Installed on a university campus of 20,000 students, an enclosed study space for 1 person mirrored the rectilinear architecture of the surrounding buildings, while placing in contrast the relationship between solitary studies and mass collective studies. Within the steel enclosure/cage a large slate desk dominated the centre with a steel 'throne' in front. The cube structure was accessible via a swinging door, and students were invited to use the space...which they did. 1/20,000, is a celebration of the lone quest for knowledge, and our need to be isolated in this spiritual search, as hermits of another era.
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Title: Migration, 1996
Location: The Musée Antoine Vivenel, Compiègne, France.
Working with a group of local children (of diverse ethnic backgrounds) a series of glass panes were painted, evoking historic stained-glass. The panes were installed within a metal framework, taking advantage of the transparency of the works, allowing play of light and colour. Mounted on a cast concrete boat, carving its way through a 'swell' in museum's sloping gardens, the colourful glass was transformed into sails, in this meditation on the movement of peoples.
Title: The Origins of Language, 2019
Exhibit: Semiahmoo Arts Society
Location South Surrey Recreation Centre
Interplay between negative and positive space, foreground and background; this series continues linguistic research initiated in my earliest works, seeking the cognitive origins of graphic language.
Title: Pineal Gland, 2018-2019
Location: My front lawn, White Rock, B.C., Canada
Each time our tall pine tree sheds a cone, I place it in the outer circle, forming three rows of pinecones. Viewed here in its winter state, with frost covering the ground, the centre of the bed is protected by pine branches harvested at the foot of the tree, which fall during peak wind events.
Title: Inside, 2003
Exhibit: Metasite (ECube)
Location: Montreal, St. Anne Park.
More vues (see above text).
Title: Great Antonio Archival Video Footage
Exhibit: Outside References, 2003
Location: Darling Foundry Art Centre, Montreal, Canada
Stills from video projection.
Video footage salvaged from The Great Antonio's personal archive, was projected with its inherent flaws displayed (Antonio video-taped these documents directly from live television broadcasts).
Title: Great Antonio Gallery
Exhibit: Outside References, 2003
Location: Darling Foundry Art Centre, Montreal, Canada
An exhaustive collection of The Great Antonio's self-publicity works were shown , grouped to underline his unique graphic process of additive collage (where he would obsessively rework and rework his promotional cards, intended for public distribution). These works were collected through a personal relationship, over the years, and completed by saving the works from destruction after his death (just prior to the show's opening). The ensemble clearly defines Antonio as a prolific visual artist, revealing the extent of his talent to the public for the first time.
Title: Main Exhibition Hall
Exhibit: Outside References, 2003
Location: Darling Foundry Art Centre, Montreal,
Enormous transparent steel frames were hung from the 75-foot-high ceiling of the main exhibition hall, highlighting archival material from both exhibiting artists, The Great Antonio, and Papa Palmerino. The images could be viewed from both sides, creating a viewing experience that penetrated the entire cathedral-like space. All these frames were designed and made by the curator (Marcus Macdonald).
Title: Papa Palmarino, Works
Exhibit: Outside References, 2003
Location: Darling Foundry Art Centre, Montreal, Canada
At the far end of the main hall, a red alter staged the sculptural works of Papa Palmarino. Through a years long process, the curator (Marcus Macdonald) came to know the artist in his shop/studio in St. Henri, Montreal, and began collecting his work. Palmarino lived to see his exhibit, which was a virtual retrospective of his life's work, including all manner of graphic collages, assemblages, popes hats, and sculptures of religious inspiration. Papa Palmarino declared himself to be the one true pope, and was adored as a saint by locals, who would buy holy trinkets from his shop...
Title: This Place
Location: Fraser River, Richmond, B.C., Canada
During breaks from construction work nearby, this shelter was created in 15-minute increments over a period of a few months, using driftwood that the river delivered to the site daily.
Title: EMERGE/MERGE\SUBMERGE
Exhibit: Resplendence, 2021
Location: Darts Hill Botanical Gardens, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
The yellow, red, and blue, dots were placed at each pruning cut on the apple branches....the twigs that were cut off the apple tree branches were then stained in either red, yellow, or blue, and formed into a circular nest.
The 'wave' and the 'nest' were installed in the orchard where the original branches came from. The wave crests at the top of a swell in the land, and the nest is installed on the opposite end at the base of the hill. The two pieces are in a connected/diametric relationship. The upper installation dynamically emerges from the ground, while the lower receptively invites within.
There are other layers of meaning, but perhaps the most important aspect of these works is the meditative process. When engaging with the material (apple branches pruned from the garden's orchard), the branches initially seemed somewhat lacklustre, but these were the material available, on the day I went to choose a material to work with, originating from the exhibition site, the Darts Hill botanical garden). The closed-loop of material, site, and process is central to my 'in-situ approach. The first step was selecting and cleaning over one hundred branches… which adds up to thousands of individual gestures. The goal is to increase intimacy with the material, in the hope that a process and concept will emerge. The inspiration coming from working with the material, on-site, during the spectacular flowering season, led to the idea for the subsequent step, which was painting the prunings (cuts and ends) with primary colours (also a lengthy, meditation). As Nature uses colour in a myriad of ways, so do artists. So many of the colour displays we see from both Nature and artists have to do with simply attracting eyes. The pruning and painting process ate most of my time budget. The hours spent 'caring' for the branches revealed their properties to me in a stunning fashion, and I progressively fell in love with their inherent beauty. Days before the installation, and exhibition opening, there was still no unifying concept, or form, and even two days prior, I was still in the dark as to how to use the branches... During that process, the twigs began to speak to me, as they formed a considerable pile of detritus that held interesting potential. I continued to work with the three primary colours, staining the twigs in three groups. The twigs synchronistically coalesced into a spectrum nest during the emergence of the wave. The wave came in a spark, while starting to structure branches together for the first time. When both installations were complete, on the dawn of the opening, their interrelationship became clear, and a host of concepts poured forth.
Another important idea that unfolded from the making, was a relationship of balance, randomness, and equality (of the colours and structure, mirrored in thought). It was critical in painting the branch cuts that no pattern should be prominent, yet, simultaneously, the colours be represented equally. In the nest, the colours are perfectly ordered, and weave into a perfect circle rainbow.
Title: SUBMERGE
Exhibit: Resplendence, MAY - AUGUST 2021
Location: Darts Hill Botanical Gardens, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
The circle of primary-coloured twigs was installed in the Spring (May), when the grass was lush and green. The spectrum nest was moved at intervals of about 2 weeks. As the months went by the 'prints' it left behind became a record of the climate catastrophe of a long-lasting drought.