Between the Sea and the Sky, the current group show at Pierre François Ouellette Art Contemporain, presents a series of artworks by Luc Courchesne, Jérôme Fortin and Karilee Fuglem on the theme of artists exploring nature, specifically water and sky, in their work.

Luc Courchesne includes a selection from his Shore series, which uses a panoscopic lens to film coastlines around the world. Instead of its usual flat line the shore forms a globe with the sky creating a ring around it. The horizon is no longer ‘horizontal’ but spherical. These two-dimensional pieces restore the third dimension to our perception of the planet. The effect is arresting and awe-inspiring.

Jérôme Fortin also creates landscapes, but his methods could not be more different. In this show he presents two series. The first, Marine, consists of “wall mounted seascapes” made of plastic bottles that the artist collected from the shores of the St. Lawrence Seaway. He cuts the bottles into strips and arranges them into circular works. Some of the pieces are monochromatic, made entirely from clear plastic or blue-tinted bottles, while the larger ones use a variety of colours. Fortin has taken objects that pollute our waters and transformed them into images of the ocean itself. The second group of works are from his Soleils series. Mounted on the wall are abstract suns made of telephone wire. With several on one wall (all different sizes and coloured wires) you have the impression that the suns are interacting with the plastic waves. Fortin’s works create their own horizon between the sun and the sea and we exist in between those two spaces.

Karilee Fuglem’s works bring a more abstract tone to the show. While both Fortin and Courchesne play with abstraction within their pieces, Fuglem’s works are abstract in and of themselves. In a separate black room Drift hovers below the ceiling. Made of two thousand metres of nylon thread, it hangs from two corners and one wall and appears to float in the air. The interwoven work resembles a net, but upon closer examination you realize that it is more complicated. Little bulbs hang down and within the work the woven threads create twists and turns. In the other room are some water drawings, made on vellum. Using a circular motion, Fuglem has painted water onto the surface. Once the water dries it leaves an imprint. These works are textured landscapes, delicate and subtle, made entirely from the water altering the material without changing the colour of the surface. Drift and the Water Drawings present an idea of the water and its magnificence as well as its subtleties.

Between the Sea and the Sky is an impressive show. It presents the work of three talented artists approaching the theme in different ways. I recommend this show to anyone who is interested in new ways that artists respond to nature and the role of abstraction in doing so.

Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain, space 216
Luc Courchesne, Jerôme Fortin, Karilee Fuglem
Between the Sea and the Sky
July 14 – August 11, 2012
www.pfoac.com