Current exhibition

Quatrième traitement: Fragilité formelle et associations libres (heptagone), 2009-2010, wood, graphite and Moleskine notebook, 80 x 80 x 15,50 cm (detail)

MARTIN BOISSEAU

QUATRIÈME TRAITEMENT : FRAGILITÉ FORMELLE ET ASSOCIATIONS LIBRES

From February 13 to March 13, 2010

The common denominator of the works of this "fourth treatment” is the examination of the devices of representation. One segment of Martin Boisseau‘s research is to link different records of visual language. Some of the outcomes of his previous series Temps mix sculpture, printmaking, video, while the works from Traitements combine sculpture and drawing. In the current project, Boisseau has made small abstract sculptures in graphite (0.5 mm) and then uses these sculptures as tools and to create drawings. Concerns about similarity, translation and transcription, are at the heart of this latest body of work. By reusing materials such as graphite, this work pursues the offerings from 2006. The leads, clustered and attached to a rigid support, form three-dimensional geometric shapes. In a way, the leads are used to make the sculpture which, in turn, mimics the design. In addition to these assemblies, texts in the form of notebooks are also developed. Anodyne annotations, short fictions and theoretical propositions coexist within the same written continuum. The written marks do not point to any particular graphic hints or subtitles. There is the only copy of these handwritten notes. Each work consists of a bas-relief of graphite and a notebook, both held in a white box.

For fifteen years Martin Boisseau developed multi-and interdisciplinary artistic practise. He uses printmaking, drawing, photography, video, and various techniques associated with sculpture (constructions, mechanical structures). His work has been shown in several solo exhibitions and group exhibitions and is held in numerous private collections and several public collections including the Musée national des Beaux-arts du Québec, Musée d'art de Joliette, The National Bank and Library and Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec.

Current exhibition