Artists: Nadia Belerique, Erin Baillie-Rutter, Marie-Michelle Deschamps, Stephanie Hier
Venue: Projet Pangée, Montréal, Canada
Date: November 12 – December 17, 2016
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Projet Pangée
The following is a theoretical proposition:
Two persons are conversing in the middle of an unrealistically large room, narrow too, let’s say 1 km by 1 m. Crazy narrow. Now, imagine that as they are speaking, they begin to back away from each other. They are making their dissimilar beliefs/values physically manifest through the space they are perpetuating between each other – person A encumbered by the incalculable, invisible weight of emotional labour, and B not only unencumbered by this, but disbelieving of its existence, as it is, as mentioned, not tangible, and if person B cannot see it, person B refuses to believe it (‘Show me the money!’ person B yells, gesticulating their arms wildly with a slap-happy smile plastered on their face). They continue talking, the volume of their voices fading proportionately to the distance between them, until –
Person A is cut off, completely, person A has dipped off the cliff, and to person B they’re mute and silly-looking, eyes full of feeling and mouth moving madly, emitting no sound, just useless, just aggravating the jawbone, just plain sad. Person A must still succumb to the insidiously violent words of B, so person A begins inching the walls, in an attempt to get away from the noise. A magnet holds A and B equally apart, and neither can gain more distance from the other. The backing away is slow, like the torturous drip of the
bathroom tap.
And, suddenly, A and B are yoyo’ed back together. The process begins again.
Therefore, there is no follow-up question for the proposition, nor, of course, any answer. Merely dissatisfaction.
And so they dance, forever.
Nuances develop, but the situation remains the same. Tuned in, tuned out.
Stephanie Hier, Wasting Good Paper, A Stamp And My, Time, 2016, Temporary tattoo on linen, Ceramic frame with glaze, 37 X 28 X 5 cm / 14 ½’’ X 11’’ X 2’’
Stephanie Hier, Tragic Hubris, 2016, Oil on canvas, Ceramic frame with glaze, 37 X 27 X 4 cm / 14 ½’’ X 10 ½’’ X 1 ½’’
Stephanie Hier, Snail Snafu, 2016, Oil on canvas, Ceramic frame with glaze, 38 X 35 X 5 cm / 15’’ X 10’’ X 2’’
Erin Baillie-Rutte, Compressed Cellar Windows (After Mărțișor), 2016, Mixed materials, 99 X 38 X 5 cm / 39’’ X 15’’ X 5’’
Nadia Belerique, Wet Pillow (Snake), 2016, Glass, steel, found object, 51 X 122 X 28 cm / 20’’ X 48’’ X 11’’
Nadia Belerique, Wet Pillow (Snake), 2016, Glass, steel, found object, 51 X 122 X 28 cm / 20’’ X 48’’ X 11’’
Marie-Michelle Deschamps, P.A.S., 2016, Steel enamelled and ceramic magnets, 22 X 51 X 11 cm / 48’’ X 20’’ X 4 ½’’
Marie-Michelle Deschamps, Coquilles, 2016, Plaster and marble powder, 117 X 53 X 1 cm / 46’’ X 21’’ X 1/16’’
Erin Baillie-Rutter, Su’s Mantel (in The Hurth of The Fire), 2016, Mixed materials, 216 X 122 X 76 cm / 86’’ X 48’’ X 30’’
Nadia Belerique, Wet Pillow (Spoon), 2016, Glass, steel, found object, 51 X 86 X 25 cm / 20’’ X 34’’ X 10’’
Nadia Belerique, Wet Pillow (Spoon), 2016, Glass, steel, found object, 51 X 86 X 25 cm / 20’’ X 34’’ X 10’’
Nadia Belerique, Wet Pillow (Tattoo), 2016, Glass, steel, found object, 38 X 56 X 25 cm / 15 ’’ X 22 ‘’ X 10 ‘’
Nadia Belerique, Wet Pillow (Tattoo), 2016, Glass, steel, found object, 38 X 56 X 25 cm / 15 ’’ X 22 ‘’ X 10 ‘’
