There are currently two shows at Galerie Roger Bellemare/Christian Lambert: Roger Bellemare’s Mes Hommages and Goodridge Robert’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Together these shows draw our attention to the format of exhibitions and the source of artists’ inspiration.

Pictures at an Exhibition is a sparse show, demonstrating as much the power of the bare walls as the works on display. On the first wall is a vitrine with books (ex Joan and Goodridge by Joan Roberts and Voyages: Canada’s Heritage Rivers), photographs, paints, a small painting and a map. Hanging on the wall alongside are twelve watercolours, all landscapes, mainly of rivers. The book in the vitrine, as well as some of the titles (Gatineau, Georgian Bay and Laurentians, to name a few) of the works refer to Canadian waterways. The title of Goodridge’s show places an emphasis on the curatorial process. The pieces pay homage to Canadian nature as well as the legacy of landscape painting in Canadian art history (be it nineteenth century or the Group of Seven). This show presents what appear to be straightforward and easy to digest works, but at the same time invokes our history of landscape painting and the question of what is Canadian art.

In the other exhibition space are Roger Bellemare originals, each of which is dedicated to someone, many of them musicians, such as Glen Gould. In the show are large works and small numbered prints of the same pieces. All these pieces have an aspect of collage in them, but the style is otherwise quite varied. Pour Anne (Anne Hébert) is sculptural, a standing vitrine with a large board on which envelopes, rocks and dried leaves are scattered. Berceuse pour Betty (Betty Goodwin) is an ink jet print of a clarinet player and an amorphous shape piece of music, with the collage rendered on the computer instead of by hand.

While one show is dedicated to direct inspiration the other ties educational tools to the works in order to help inform us on the works of the artist. Together these shows make us ask ourselves “where do we find our inspiration?”

Galerie Roger Bellemare / Galerie Christian Lambert, spaces 501 & 502
Goodridge Roberts – Pictures at an exhibition
Roger Bellemare – Mes hommages
August 4 – September 22, 2012
www.rogerbellemare.com