A weird fabric world awaits at Trépanier Baer in Luanne Martineau’s new show.

DETAILS

What Widens Within You Walt Whitman by Luanne Martineau
Trepanier Baer Gallery
Friday, September 11 - Saturday, October 10

More in: Visual Arts

To the casual viewer, Luanne Martineau's show at Trépanier Baer will come as a bit of a surprise. Nowhere will you find a traditional canvas-mounted painting, a classically proportioned sculpture or even, for that matter, things that make easy sense — and that's a good thing.

Martineau's show is called “What Widens Within You Walt Whitman,” but the parallels to Whitman, the great 19th-century American poet, are not entirely overt. Rather than incorporating Whitman's work in the show, the title is more of a statement regarding kinship in artistic endeavour. Martineau's works depart from traditional forms by combining unexpected materials. The product of these departures makes for a challenging but rewarding artistic encounter, much like Whitman's poems.

The first piece encountered is Gobbler. Mounted on the wall just inside the gallery’s entrance, Gobbler is a grey-and-pink sack-shaped object that has several protuberances that recall polyps and blood vessels — a common addition to many of Martineau's pieces in this show. It is at once familiar and attractive, yet foreign and curious, distorting the viewer's perceptions and expectations. Gobbler prepares the viewer for what they are about to encounter: open-ended narratives in abstract forms, innovative use of material and colour and highly allusive themes.

Once inside the main space, two of the pieces, Stinger and the annoyingly named Who are they you salute and that one after another salute you, are hand-stitched works. Stinger, made of rice paper, is painted black and comprises scores of triangles hand-stitched to form an abstract object that evokes images of a spider, virus or a reptile. It is a curious piece, one that offers the viewer several different entry points from which to observe it. From far away, it is complete with movement, energy and strength, but up close, it is best to admire its construction. The thinness of the material conveys a sense to the viewer of weakness and fragility. Salute, unlike Stinger and in contrast with the rest of the work on display, is the weakest piece here. Although the sewing paper work is pleasant from a visual point of view, its black-and-white checkerboard pattern, musical staff header and fringes do not have the energy of Stinger.

In the centre of the room lie two more textile sculptures: Form Fantasy and Brickmaker. At first, it’s not clear what to make of them. Form Fantasy combines a chair and what appears to be a streak of blood streaming from a windmill. The piece is an innovative, minimalist illustration of the body: the windmill is the head, the blood the body, the chair the legs. The fabrics, however, deflect a potentially disturbing presentation of viscera, as the softness creates more an echo of blood and guts than a strict reflection of it. It's a strange representation of the human form, but captivating in its minimalism.

Brickmaker is in a similar class to Form Fantasy; it appears primarily as a buffalo’s head mounted on a felt tent. However, it is open-ended in its references, with a heart-like object to the side, dotted with vessels and polyps and cigarette butts at the bottom. It is second to Form Fantasy in evocative use of colour and contrast, but as an object of contemplation, it is delightfully puzzling and imaginative (though the signature stitched into the side is much too large and proves distracting).

Bolted to the wall at the far end of the space is Aiden's Fiddle, the undisputed showstopper. Here, all of Martineau's considerable talents with her chosen media culminate into a strong and impressive visual display. Standing before it, the eye races across the sculpture in an effort to discover recognizable objects from which to make a linear narrative from its multiple suggestions. In the top corner, there's a bell with a finger for the handle, below that is what appears to be a fruit still life in yellow felt and in the upper right corner, a green worm or a pickle with a cherry on its back. Odd stuff to be sure, but stunning and fascinating both creatively and visually.

Don’t expect normal in Martineau's show at Trépanier Baer. Nothing in this exhibition aims to be conventional and that is the soul of the show. It’s an intelligent and raw show; more craftsmanship over sophistication. Walt Whitman-like, indeed.