Installation view of “The Painting Project” showing (left to right) Elizabeth McIntosh's Art Nouveau (2012) Ben Reeves's Being There (2011) and Pierre Durette's Contingent 7 (2012) / photo L.-P. Côté © Galerie de l’UQAM
For the past two months, Galerie de l’UQAM has been providing a major survey of contemporary Canadian painting activity in its two-part exhibition “The Painting Project.” Wrapping up July 6, the show features works by 60 artists chosen over two years of research by curators Julie Bélisle and Louise Déry; both also worked in collaboration with Marie-Eve Beaupré as well, and consulted 10 professionals on special exhibition advisory committees. The result is a wide-ranging sample of what painters from coast to coast are doing today. (To see some of the works in the show, and installation views, click on the Photos icon above.)
Originally, “The Painting Project” came out of an opportunity to put together an exhibition for the Virtual Museum of Canada, but its presentation in Montreal has been very concrete. The exhibition was broken down into four themes: Figures of reality, Fictional worlds, Painting as subject and Hybrid practices. Spanning these various painterly strategies through studio practices across Canada, it is well worth a look—whether in person or online—before its closing date.
As Louise Déry wrote about the project research in the Summer 2012 issue of Canadian Art, the endeavour “demonstrates that to study the painting produced in Canada is to allow a reflection of us to emerge, one that contributes to the forging of an identity.”
Artists included in part 1 of the show, which ran from May 1 to June 1, are Hugo Bergeron, Marie-Claude Bouthillier, Tammi Campbell, Thomas Chisholm, Louis-Philippe Côté, Pierre Dorion, Mario Doucette, Michael Dumontier, Neil Farber, Graham Gillmore, Cynthia Girard, Clint Griffin, Dil Hildebrand, Daniel Hutchinson, Wanda Koop, Jessica Korderas, Gwenessa Lam, Stéphane La Rue, Maclean, Jason McLean, Christine Major, Sandra Meigs, Chris Millar, Kent Monkman, Tim Moore, Paul P., Brad Phillips, Team Macho, Julie Trudel and Carol Wainio.
Artists in part 2 of the show, which opened June 7 and runs to July 6, are Melanie Authier, Mike Bayne, Simon Bilodeau, Jack Bishop, Jérôme Bouchard, Anthony Burnham, Sarah Cale, Arabella Campbell, DaveandJenn, Kim Dorland, Pierre Durette. Dorian FitzGerald, Sky Glabush, Kym Greeley, Jeremy Hof, Chris Kline, François Lacasse, Jean-François Lauda, Norma Jean MacLean, Elizabeth McIntosh, Michael Merrill, Shaun Morin, Andrea Mortson, Wil Murray, Ben Reeves, Francine Savard, Justin Stephens, Beth Stuart, Joseph Tisiga, Ehryn Torrell, and Janet Werner.
