The large gallery space at Circa has been plunged into darkness yet again. Step through the thick black curtain and you float in nothingness; the gallery space is silent except for the sound of intermittent mechanical clicks.

Projected on the gallery walls are two vividly coloured video installations by artist J. F. Cantin. On the floor in front of each projection sits a shallow pool of water, no more than a few centimetres deep. The smaller piece titled Canal glows like a stained glass window in a cathedral. A black, organic texture slips down alternating yellow and turquoise bands of colour like a silent waterfall. The projection is reflected in an oval pool of water, continuing the movement. One in a while, a mechanical flap disturbs the water, creating a series of concentric waves which calmly float across the image, distorting the lines and creating a more intricate geometry. In the centre of the pool two semi-circles jut out above the water’s surface at an angle, and if you stand just in front of the installation, the pool looks like a giant eye. In fact, in his artist’s statement Cantin calls the surface of the water a “retinal element.” Is the pool an extension of our own eyes, or is the artwork looking back at us?

The larger installation titled Infusion has a more complex structure. Strips of shocking pink, lime green, turquoise, and deep red are interwoven on a black background. Moving through the strips are silhouetted panoramas of public spaces, tiny people are dragged across the the coloured bands in opposite directions. Unlike the meditative piece Canal, Infusion creates a sense of urban chaos. The reflected image in the water is fragmented not just by sporadic waves, but also by a series of metal strips curling in and out of the water. The reflections of the human figures are distorted and broken up like a fading dream, alluding to our subconscious mind.

Centre d’exposition Circa, space 444
J. F. Cantin
Aquatique
January 14 – February 11, 2012
www.circa-art.com