Artists: Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin
Exhibition title: Within a Handful
Venue: Tap Art Space, Montreal, Canada
Date: August 10 – September 17, 2023
Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artists and Tap Art Space, Montreal
MONTREAL, QC – August 10th, 2023 – TAP Art Space is proud to present “Within a Handful,” a duo exhibition featuring works by Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, two artists whose distinct practices converge on themes of nature, resilience, and interconnectedness. The exhibition will be in view from August 10th to September 17th.
This exhibition speaks to the urgency of our socio-ecological crisis and the intimate realities of chronic pain and healing. “Within a Handful” takes its name from the phrase “seeing worlds within a handful of moss,” encapsulating the artists’ shared approach of engaging deeply with their surroundings. Levaque and Fortin echo the idea of world building within their practices. Each of them intricately observes, dissects, and reinterprets their environment— Levaque through the intimacy of objects and Fortin through his engagement with plant life and landscapes.
Nicole Levaque’s sculptural installations and ceramics address hierarchies of consumption, chronic pain, and her emotional attachment to objects. Her work combines the familiar with the extraordinary, casting everyday objects and constructing ceramics that echo queer tableaus of domesticity and excess. Each piece is in constant play, subject to the unpredictability of materiality and the ebb and flow of the creative process.
On the other hand, Remy Fortin’s paintings present his daily encounters with plants as a journey towards overcoming “plant blindness.” His work ranges from intimate portraits of plants to expansive landscapes, revealing glimpses of a larger ecological reality within their microcosm. His intention is to cultivate a greater sensitivity for the “global” by paying attention to the “local,” or vice versa.
Together, their work invites a deeper contemplation of our surroundings, exploring themes of interconnectedness, resilience, and scale shifts.
Nicole Levaque is a Canadian artist, currently based in Hamilton, ON. Working through sculptural installations and ceramics, she addresses hierarchies of consumption and her emotional attachment to objects. Levaque holds an MFA in Sculpture and Extended Media from Virginia Commonwealth University (2019) and a BFA in Painting from Concordia University in Tio’tiá:ke (Montreal), Quebec (2014). Her work has been exhibited and collected both locally and internationally.
Remy Fortin is a self-taught artist based in Montreal. With a focus on Nature and ecology, Fortin critiques anthropocentrism through his art, proposing a pluralistic conception of the environment. He holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Montreal (2017) and McGill University (2020) and is currently completing a doctorate in architecture at McGill University.
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Remy Fortin, Jardin à bulbes, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Remy Fortin, Jardin à bulbes, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Nicole Levaque, Scents Shadow, Glazed stoneware and paper pulp, 24 x 16 x 15 in
Nicole Levaque, Scents Shadow, Glazed stoneware and paper pulp, 24 x 16 x 15 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Remy Fortin, Fougère de Noël, Oil on canvas, 16 x 12 x 2 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Remy Fortin, Gros arbres comme un ciel, Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 x 2 in
Nicole Levaque, Nymphaea, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 35 x 21 x 21 in
Nicole Levaque, Nymphaea, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 35 x 21 x 21 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Remy Fortin, Jardin potager, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Remy Fortin, Jardin potager, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Nicole Levaque, Carrion Bloom, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 28 x 21 x 23 in
Nicole Levaque, Carrion Bloom, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 28 x 21 x 23 in
Nicole Levaque, Venus, Glazed stoneware, 24 x 15 x 15 in
Nicole Levaque, Venus, Glazed stoneware, 24 x 15 x 15 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Remy Fortin, Northern star, Oil on canvas, 7 x 5 x 1 in
Remy Fortin, Jardin sylvestre, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Remy Fortin, Jardin sylvestre, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Remy Fortin, Comfey, Oil on canvas, 10 x 8 x 1 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque, bases, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 6 x 16 x 16 in
Nicole Levaque, bases, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 6 x 16 x 16 in
Nicole Levaque, bases, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 6 x 16 x 16 in
Nicole Levaque, bases, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 6 x 16 x 16 in
Nicole Levaque, bases, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 6 x 16 x 16 in
Nicole Levaque, bases, Glazed stoneware and mixed media, 6 x 16 x 16 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque, Moss, Glazed stoneware, 8 x 6 x 1 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Remy Fortin, Jardin à l’échelle, Oil on canvas, 48 x 60 x 2 in
Nicole Levaque, holding, Mixed media, 31 x 15 x 15 in
Nicole Levaque, holding, Mixed media, 31 x 15 x 15 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Remy Fortin, False lily-valley, Oil on canvas, 7 x 5 x 1 in
Remy Fortin, Deux trilles, Oil on canvas, 12 x 9 x 1 in
Remy Fortin, Verge d’or, Oil on canvas, 18 x 14 in
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
Nicole Levaque and Remy Fortin, Within a Handful, 2023, exhibition view, Tap Art Space, Montreal
