EXPLOSION OF FORMS AND TEXTURES: QUEBEC ART OF THE 1960S FROM BAS-SAINT-LAURENT MUSEUM’S COLLECTION
Runs until August 26
The Triangle Gallery
Quebec, with all of its distinct society assertions, can thank its visual artists for helping to lay the groundwork in creating a place where artistic expression is valued. This freedom is apparent when viewing The Triangle Gallery’s current exhibition, Explosion of Forms & Textures: Quebec Art of the 1960s.
The work Gesture 10, created by painter Marcel Barbeau in 1957, is a clue to the political and visual changes that were about to overtake Quebec. Next to the piece is a video, which plays a loop of Barbeau creating a canvas in an autonomic (near manic) state.
Barbeau was a protégé of surrealist Paul-Émile Borduas, an activist who had dedicated much of his energies to advocating individual rights. Borduas surrounded himself with a group of art students, including Barbeau and painter Jean Paul Riopelle, and together they founded Les Automatistes.
Influenced by the underpinnings of surrealism and automatism, the group broke free of conventional approaches to art and began to create works that paralleled the sweeping changes also occurring in broader Quebec society.
Long dominated by the dictums of the Roman Catholic Church, Quebec of the 1960s was shrugging off its conservative values and adopting a new approach to relationships, politics and art.
The work by Jean Noël, Orange Egg, is symbolic of this ground-shaking transformation. Made from Plexiglas, its shiny mass appears to hold great promise, as if what was about to be "hatched" in Quebec was so profound and wide-ranging that its shock waves would affect not only that province, but also the entire country.
The two solitudes, as Quebec and the balance of Canada have famously been described, remain at times distant and aloof from each other. Yet, this exhibition proves that visual art can transcend nationalism and provide a meeting point no matter what language is being uttered.
Inspired by its current exhibition, Triangle Gallery is in the process of gathering support to host ongoing cultural exchanges between Alberta and Quebec. Not limited to visual arts, the gallery’s director, Jacek Malec, plans to call on the governments of both Quebec and Alberta to support the idea.
"I think artists are far better equipped to deal with differences than politicians," says Malec.
Note: On July 6 at 7 p.m. Jacek Malec will speak about the exhibition in a talk titled The Art of Quebec: Road to Abstraction. |
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