Inspired by the International Digital Arts Biennial (BIAN), today’s selection of four remarkable artworks currently on show in the galleries of the Belgo building are all video or sound pieces. Clockwise from top left:

Perte de signal at Galerie Joyce Yahouda, Gwenaël Bélanger at Galerie SAS, Peter Flemming at Skol, Glenda Léon at Pierre-Franois Ouellette Art Contemporain

Usually on entering an exhibition space we expect to find works to look at and consider. This is only partially true of Peter Flemming’s new show, Instrumentation, at Centre des arts actuels Skol. Flemming, who describes himself as a “folk machinery artist”, here exhibits five works that create, project and alter his created electro-mechanical sound. In the first room sit four large pieces, each facing a corner. Made of found objects, the works are all designed to project the sounds that Flemming has created. As you walk around them the volume changes to stress their function. In the back room is the fifth piece. Sitting in the middle of the room like a work station are piano wires, moving arms, machinery and drums kits acting as speakers. On top of the table three desk lamps get brighter then darker, adding a visual dimension. When the lights fade to black we become immersed in the sound, and when they turn back on we are reminded of the visual setting and not just what we are hearing.

In the past few years the public has begun to take more note of sound artists. The 2010 Turner Prize was awarded to Susan Philipsz’s Lowlands, a sound installation featuring three variants of the same Scottish lament. Sound installation – be it electro-machinery, words, noises or songs – focuses on heightening not only our hearing, but also our sight. In the case of Flemming’s instrumentation, when you first enter the show you try and figure out how the different objects present are making the electro-noise, then the longer you are there the less the how matters and the more you enjoy being silent totally immersed in Flemming’s music, and the way the separate noises resonate with one another. You can just relax and let the sounds wash over you.

Centre des arts actuels Skol, space 314
Peter Flemming
Instrumentation
April 27 – June 2 2012
www.skol.ca

Andreanne Fournier at Visual Voice Art Gallery

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Galerie A.B., space 313
Pinakotheke: the art of (not) talking about the weather
Musical performance by Marjorie Fiset
Il danse avec les Genoux
Starting at 8:00 p.m.
www.galerieab.com

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Galerie A.B., space 313
Pinakotheke: the art of (not) talking about the weather
Performance by Guillaume Drouin, Maude Forget Chiasson et Gabriel Lapierre
Starting at 7:00 p.m.
www.galerieab.com

SBC Gallery of Contemporary Art, space 507
Amelia Jones
Seeing Differently:
A History and Theory of Identification and the Visual Arts
Book launch and reading at 6:00 p.m.
www.sbcgallery.ca

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Galerie A.B., space 313
Pinakotheke: the art of (not) talking about the weather
Musical performance by Winston Balafre
Starting at 8:00 p.m.
www.galerieab.com

Friday, May 18, 2012

Galerie A.B., space 313
Pinakotheke: the art of (not) talking about the weather
Collective creation evening in collaboration with La République France for the project
La Nuit de Monarchie
Starting at 7:00 p.m.
www.galerieab.com

Galerie B-312, space 403
Benefit exhibition featuring 76 artists
Pour l’art
Vernissage at 7:30 p.m.
www.galerieb-312.qc.ca

Visual Voice Art Gallery, space 421
Andreanne Fournier
Enough Snow to Sleep Forever
Vernissage 5:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
www.visualvoicegallery.com

Arprim, space 426
Artist’s talk with Andrée-Anne Dupuis Bourret
Multiplicité et prolifération, une réflexion sur l’installation modulaire imprimée
From 6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
www.arprim.org

Sarah Bertrand-Hamel’s new exhibit, Contingencies, at the Joyce Yahouda Gallery is a perfect introduction to her unusual practice. In this series Bertrand-Hamel has cut and sewn together pieces of paper like a quilt. Some of these works are from paper she made herself, while others have designs and images painted and printed on them. This form of practice brings together craft and fine arts as Bertrand-Hamel uses techniques such as sewing and paper making to produce works of art.

Cutting and sewing together fragments of paper Bertrand-Hamel makes something out of something. Thinking about these works I find myself at a loss as to what to call them. Hanging on the wall, they are almost sculptural. She draws with a needle and thread, creating works that that are layered with texture and at times even moulded into three-dimensional shapes. Différenciation I, for example, is completely grey, bulging at the bottom while the top is assembled with cut pieces of handmade paper in the form of snowflakes. White thread hangs below, implying that this work is incomplete and more paper could be sewn on at a moment’s notice. L’origine des losanges is more symmetrical. Something between a circle and a square, the work is ink jet print and watercolour on sewn paper. Lying flatter and closer to the wall, the white pieces of paper have mismatched designs and drawings on them, like a quilt. In its current state the work is two-dimensional; however, the act of drawing and assembling pieces of paper in this manner harks back to craft and the utility in sewing and quilting. These works stand as visual objects to be enjoyed, but they also refer to the ancient traditions of women’s work.

Joyce Yahouda Gallery, space 516
Sarah Bertrand-Hamel
Contingencies
March 24 – April 28, 2012
http://joyceyahoudagallery.com

Pinakotheke: Myriam Dion

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Galerie A.B., space 313
Pinakotheke: the art of (not) talking about the weather
Group exhibition and performances by 50 artists
Vernissage at 7:00 p.m.
www.galerieab.com

Les Territoires, space 527
Minna Pöllänen: Attempts
Ben Clarkson: The New World
Vernissage at 6:00 p.m.
www.lesterritoires.org

Friday, May 11, 2012

Galerie A.B., space 313
Pinakotheke: the art of (not) talking about the weather
Theatre and dance performances by Jonathan Frédéric and Anne-Marie Spénard, Frédérique Forget and Anne-Marie Santerre
Starting at 8:00 p.m.
www.galerieab.com

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Galerie A.B., space 313
Pinakotheke: the art of (not) talking about the weather
Literary evening in collaboration with Baise-Livres and Poème Sale
Starting at 5:00 p.m.
www.galerieab.com

Galerie Lilian Rodriguez, space 405
Chloé Desjardins, Péio Éliceiry, Caroline Gagnon, Pascal Gingras, Clémence Grieco, Sylvie Larouche, Mathieu Latulippe, François Simard
Matière sous influence / Mezmerizing Matter
Vernissage at 2:00 p.m.
www.galerielilianrodriguez.com

Sans Titre by Catherine Aboumrad

Like many cities around the world, Montreal hosts a portfolio review for contemporary photography. Photoforum, at Les Territoires, features forty-one emerging artists whose work was reviewed by thirty-one professionals during the last weekend of April. Each artist met with seven professionals to discuss their work. These pieces are now on display until May 5. Instead of lining up the photographs on the wall in the usual way, Les Territoires is exhibiting them in the manner of a nineteenth century French academy, asymetrically, sometimes one on top of another. This exhibition introduces new artists to Montreal’s art scene and presents many forms of photographic practices.

Two of the works that caught my eye were Protector by Kate Yüksel and Sans Titre, de la série Conserver L’immobile, by Catherine Aboumrad, both excerpted from photographic series. Protector is a forest scene of two young boys emerging from the greenery. The series, Two Boys, documents their growing relationship. The title of this work, Protector, raises questions about who (or what) is protecting whom. Abroumrad’s series Conserver L’immobile (Capturing Stillness), portrays the landscape of the Canadian North, playing with how light infiltrates deserted spaces. In Sans Titre she has photographed the top of a hill on a cloudy day, arousing uncertainty of what lies beyond, invoking the mystery and strangeness of the northern wilderness.

These two works are examples of the multiple photographic practices in the exhibition. Viewers can enjoy still lifes, portraits, installations, works that demonstrate the technical abilities of photography, those that reflect other media like drawing or painting. The show also introduces many artists. Whose work made you want to see more? Who did you look up when you went home and whose name are you going to keep an eye out for in upcoming shows in Montreal?

Les Territoires, space 527
Multiple Artists
Photoforum
April 26 – May 5 2012
www.lesterritoires.org

Richard Mill‘s Recent Paintings now on exhibition at Galerie Trois Points fuse sculpture and minimalist painting, contrasting the flat surface of his canvases with the geometric, three-dimensional aspects of the found objects he includes in his œuvre.

Architectural elements dot the exhibition space, such a a slender wooden arch spanning the ends of a canvas, or a series of turned banister columns mottled with successive coats of paint stretching away from a painting.

The large-format paintings are vast lakes of a singe colour, sometime spilling beyond the edge of the stretcher, sometimes pushing against an adjacent colour in gentle, lapping waves. If you look closely, you’ll notice that the curves and dips of these waves resemble female figures, their silhouettes reaching out of the dark expanse. They also dialogue with the curves and angles of the slender columns in the room, alluding to figuration while remaining strictly abstract. A fringe of drips at the bottom of the canvases reference the process of painting and the medium itself.

Enhancing the graphic flatness of the painted works is the addition of stenciled text, providing cryptic clues to a mythological narrative.

If the works look somehow familiar, you are not mistaken. Mill is a veteran of the Quebec arts scene, in fact, he was in the first graduating class of the École des arts visuels of the Université Laval. He has worked as an artist for over 40 years, active in abstraction and minimalism. His most recent series of artworks is a reference to his 1970s series of black paintings.

Galerie Trois Points, space 520
Richard Mill
Peintures récentes / Recent Paintings
April 28 – May 18, 2012
www.galerietroispoints.qc.ca

Jana Sterbak at Galerie Laroche/Joncas

Saturday, May 5, 2012

Maison Kasini, space 408
Alex Costantino
Le Parlement / Parliament
Vernissage from 3:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
http://maisonkasini.com

Galerie Laroche/Joncas, space 410
Jana Sterbak
Back Home
Vernissage 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
www.larochejoncas.com

Galerie Luz, space 418
Niane Naïane, Brick Lane
Judy Raymer Ivkoff
Nicole Mongeon-Cardin
Vernissage from 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
www.galerieluz.com

Galerie Joyce Yahouda, space 516
Jason Arsenault, Myriam Bessette, Robin Dupuis,
François Quévillon, Nelly-Ève Rajotte, Pavritra Wickramasinghe
curator: Perte de Signal
Confluence
part of the International Digital Arts Biennial (BIAN)
Vernissage from 4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
www.joyceyahoudagallery.com

This listing is updated every Tuesday morning.

En Masse artists are presenting their personal artworks at Galerie Pangée – in technicolour! Known for their enormous black-and-white collaborative murals, the Salon Masse showcases the artists’ personal projects, which range from screen prints to painted skateboards. The walls at Galerie Pangée are covered from floor to ceiling with quirky neo-pop art, large-scale drawings, and some academic works. If you are familiar with En Masse’s murals you will be able to recognize the distinct visual language of each participant, though there were quite a few artists I couldn’t reference. Most evident are Jason Botkin’s hallmark floating heads, with their swirl of concentric, serpentine lines, as well as Amy Goh’s and Kirsten McCrea’s intricate drawings and delicate patterns. I also recognized Astro Duc Crew’s cast of crazy cartoon characters which look like they escaped from a Japanese video game and are having a smoke after a massive rave. On the other end of the spectrum are the impressive painterly portrait works by Kevin Ledo and Carmelo Blandino, their layered, floating brushwork and subtle colour palette echoing the works of Dutch masters.

The Salon Masse is somewhere between a circus and a cacophony, as the various styles, media and sizes of artwork compete with your attention, but this is also the exhibition’s charm. My advice is to take your time, and to stroll along the stretch of exhibition walls twice to make sure no artwork escapes your notice.

Galerie Pangée, space 412
En Masse
Salon Masse
April 27 – June 30, 2012
www.galeriepangee.com

This week’s selection of noteworthy artworks on show in the galleries of the Belgo building focuses on creative approaches to working with the human form. Clockwise from top left:

En Masse at Galerie Pangée, Michel de Broin at Galerie SAS, Daniel Erban at Espace Robert Poulin, Jérôme Ruby at Galerie Donald Browne