Marc Gauthier

[Pêche interdite/No Fishing [Fishing prohibited/No Fishing], Thierry Arcand-Bossé, 2008, Quebec City]

Efforts to improve nearby ramps of highway Dufferin-Montmorency continue in the Saint-Roch district of Quebec City. The destruction of two ramps freed some space where a new park will be built: Xi’an park.

Since June, manhole covers decorated by Quebec artists have been put in place. These works of art are integrated into the street furniture of the city.

[Future Xi'an Park, 2008, Quebec City]

Non-profit organization Folie/Culture is behind this initiative. In a previous post, I related my visit to the workshop of artist Paryse Martin, who had shown me the design for her cover. The result is as pleasing as the drawing suggested.

[Sketch, Quand la nature fait naître des fictions [When nature creates fictions], Paryse Martin, 2008, Quebec City]

[Quand la nature fait naître des fictions [When nature creates fictions], Paryse Martin, 2008, Quebec City]

Did you know? Folie/Culture “seeks to inform, to raise awareness, and to promote in the area of mental health. It organises events that follow unusual directions in research while at the same time motivating reflection on questions relating to painful social issues.”

[Dérapage [Slippage], Cooke-Sasseville, 2008, Quebec City]

The idea of integrating a banana peel on laughs and to call it Dérapage [Slippage] makes one smile. It should be noted that Cooke-Sasseville appears to have a busy summer! The duo also participates in the Triennal at the Montreal Museum of contemporary art and in Quebec Gold, which takes place in the city of Reims (France).

You can download a map of the circuit by visiting the website of Folie/Culture. I also prepared a circuit on Google Maps.

[Circuit, Google Maps]

[Prière d'écraser [Please crush], François Chevalier, 2008, Quebec City]

Did you know? Xi’an park owes its name to the nearby street. It marks the site of the former Chinatown of Quebec City, ravaged when the highway was built. The city of Quebec also has a cooperation agreement with the Chinese city of Xi’an since 1999.

[Cité suspendue [Suspended City], Laurent Gagnon, 2008, Quebec City]

It would have been interesting to name the artists on their plates. At the very least, a panel indicating the intention behind the idea to passerbies would have communicated the intentions of the exhibit to a wider audience. Furthermore, the absence of a title takes away basic information that adds to the pleasure when watching the works.

Finally, the rust that has emerged quickly surprises me: are these works permanent or will they be withdrawn at the end of the year? An article [in French] suggests that they’ll stay in place until the end of their useful life. Folie/Culture says that the exhibit closes on December 31, 2008. In all cases, it would seem like their useful life is relatively short…

[Vertigo, Jacques Samson, 2008, Quebec City]

It is difficult to talk about this exhibition without a mention of the censorship which hit artist Martin Bureau. Indeed, his drawing of Queen Elizabeth II mixed with a reindeer head was censured by the foundry Bibby Ste-Croix (a subsidiary of McWane located in Alabama) and the city of Quebec. If the artist wanted “to make people talk”, it seems that critic is liken to “Debbie-Downers” in the Old-Capital. The censorship thus took place without raising an eyebrow.

The exhibition Manhole Madness is presented on Saint-Vallier street, under the ramps of Highway Dufferin-Montmorency, until December 31st, 2008. The initiative is an official event of the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec City.

Further reading:
* My post on the drawing from Paryse Martin
* My post on manhole cover art
* My circuit on Google Maps
* The site of the organization Folie/Culture
* Official map to identify the works
* Carte officielle pour repérer les oeuvres
* Des Photographs taken during the inauguration on June 2008
* Article in French from weekly Voir with a picture of the artists
* Canoe, in French, on Martin Bureau’s censorship

* Quebec City launched a contest for the realization of a work of contemporary art in the borough of Beauport. The work will fit a place with water jets on the avenue Royale. Budget: $ 80.000. Deadline: July 7, 2008. [details]

* Montreal daily Le Devoir reported in its weekend edition that the National Gallery of Canada could terminate its agreement with the City of Energy in Shawinigan. The budget cuts of the Conservative government would be to blame.

[Ron Mueck, Baby; source: wikipedia.org]

All the more reason to enjoy the exhibition by Ron Mueck and Guy Ben-Ner, which runs until September 1st 2008.

* Le Moulin des images [The Mill of Pictures] from Robert Lepage is projected on the mill of the Bunge in Quebec City’s port. No narrative but a series of impressions. You will find a slideshow of interest on the site of Ex Machina.

[Ex Machina]

* The Naval Museum of Quebec deserves to be better known. Located in the Old Port, it offers two exhibitions this summer. The Refectory is a work by Isabelle Laverdière which interprets exchanges that occurred between marine enemies over centuries on the St. Lawrence River. By Sea and In Stone covers the development of defensive works in the region. The exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Museum of the Royal 22nd Regiment [Citadel], the Museum of the Regiment of Voltigeurs of Quebec [Armoury; currently closed due to fire] and the Musee du Regiment de la Chaudière.

* Quebec Gold presents the works of 17 artists from the nation in Reims (France) this summer, in collaboration with L’Oeil de Poisson. Those invited are: Jean-Pierre Aubé, Mathieu Beauséjour, BGL, Sylvain Bouthillette, Michel de Broin, Cooke-Sasseville, Doyon-Rivest, Jérôme Fortin, Dominique Gaucher, Pascal Grandmaison, Isabelle Hayeur, Guillaume Lachapelle, Emmanuelle Léonard, Yann Pocreau, Yannick Pouliot, Michael A. Robinson et Ève K. Tremblay.
Note that Michel de Broin, Cooke-Sasseville, Doyon-Rivest, Isabelle Hayeur and Yannick Pouliot are also part of the Triennial of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal.

* Many works of contemporary artists were acquired by Loto-Quebec after Manif d’art 4. Works of the following artists have been acquired: Éveline Boulva, Eve Cadieux, Don Darby, Isabelle Véronique, Lucia Lefebvre, Reno Salvail, Helga Schlitter, Bill Vincent and Giorgia Volpe. Moreover, Nathalie Thibault and Cooke-Sasseville received scholarships. Note that the latter is part of the Triennial of The Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal and, as mentioned earlier, his works will be exhibited in Reims.

* The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts offers a free and individual tour next Wednesday. [details]

* In conjunction with the exhibition The Louvre in Quebec, the National Gallery of Quebec [Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec] offers free shows of the film Louvre, the visit. Performances are at 13h30 and 15h00 on the following dates:
June: 15, 18, 22 and 29
July: 2, 9, 13, 20, 23, 27 and 30
August: 3, 6, 10, 13, 20, 24, 27 and 31

* The market for contemporary sculpture continues to be strong. For example, the sculpture My Lonesome Cowboy by Takashi Murakami was sold for $ 13.5 million in May. Artprice provides a market analysis.

[Takashi Murakami, My Lonesome Cowboy, 1998, epoxy resin]

* Mexico is too small for the Guggenheim.

* Collector Charles Saatchi bought many works of three graduates in visual arts.

* Going by San Francisco? An exhibition on women Impressionists has just begun at the Museum of Fine Arts. A selection of works is available on the Museum’s Picasa account.

[Berthe Morisot, Interior, 1872, oil on canvas]

* And on a more personal note, I finished my intensive summer course in art history. Entitled Impression and Sensation: Aspects of the Artistic Subjectivity in Modern Painting in the Nineteenth Century, it was a deepening experience of landscape painting, the Impressionists and Cezanne.