Deliberately balancing a sense of irony with a flair for controversy, I delivered the performance entitled Re-Politiser Borduas on October 7 2017, at Mainline Gallery. During the private view, I cut through several self-made reproductions of Paul-Émile Borduas’ paintings, then exhibited these for ten days in the busiest section of St-Laurent Boulevard, which divides the city of Montrealin two, between its East and West ends. I thus re-submited an essential body of Quebecois art history to large audiences, to accentuate its democratic appeal as well as to exalt its political dimension.
This was an entirely self-funded exhibition, freed from the commercial constraints of private galleries, and the extended deliberations of artist-run centers that too often defuse the political charge of works of art. Through this maneuver, I aimed to subtly remind of how writing the Refus Global cost dearly to Borduas, who lost his position as professor, and his health, before witnessing the social transformations generated by his manifesto. When damaging copies of Borduas’ works, I aspired to re-energize the aesthetic of protest contained in the originals, transmit a more shocking yet more faithful visual experience to the viewer, that the paintings initially provoked when first shown in the 1950s.
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En oscillant délibérément entre un sens d'ironie et un flair pour la controverse, j'ai livré la performance intitulée Re-Politiser Borduas le 7 octobre 2017, à la Mainline Gallery. Lors du vernissage, j'ai lacéré plusieurs reproductions, réalisées moi-même, des peintures de Paul-Émile Borduas, pour ensuite les exposer dix jours sur la section la plus achalandée du boulevard St-Laurent, qui divise la ville de Montréal en deux, entre l'est et l'ouest. J'ai ainsi resoumis un corpus essentiel de l'histoire de l'art québécois à un large public, pour accentuer son attrait populaire et exalter sa dimension politique.
Cette exposition fut entièrement autofinancée, libérée des contraintes commerciales de galeries privées et des délibérations prolongées des centres d'artistes qui désamorçent trop souvent la charge politique des œuvres d'art. Via cette manœuvre, j'ai cherché à rappeler combien l'écriture du Refus Global a coûté cher à Borduas, qui a perdu son poste de professeur, et sa santé, avant de témoigner des transformations sociales engendrées par son manifeste. En endommageant ces copies des œuvres de Borduas, jai voulu redynamiser l'esthétique de protestation des originaux, transmettre au spectateur une expérience visuelle plus choquante mais plus fidèle, que les peintures pouvaient provoquer lors de leur première exposition dans les années 1950.
Re-Politiser Borduas, 17 min performance over five canvases, Oct. 2017
Re-Politiser Borduas, 17 min performance over five canvases, Oct. 2017
Re-Politiser Borduas, 17 min performance over five canvases, Oct. 2017
Re-Politiser Borduas (3+3+4), 116x152cm+ Re-Politiser Borduas (Seagull), 152x116cm, performance artefacts, acrylic on canvas, neon frame, Oct. 2017
Re-Politiser Borduas (Pierre Angulaire), 122x184cm + detail, performance artefact, acrylic on canvas, neon frame, Oct. 2017
Re-Politiser Borduas (Black Star), 154x122 + detail, performance artefacts, acrylic on canvas, neon frame, Oct. 2017