On show this month at Galerie Hugues Charbonneau is an eclectic mix of artists: Marie-Claude Bouthillier, Tammi Campbell, Jean-Benoit Pouliot, Julie Trudel and Trevor Gould present their visions in a variety of media for the show Point Ligne Plan.

Montreal based artist, Marie-Claude Bouthillier has been exploring the connection between text and textile in her work since the late 1980s. Bouthillier creates an interplay between shapes forming a personal dialogue with many intricate parts. In this current show, the artist has presented three pieces from her collection Familles (2012). These modest-sized pieces entitled hannah02, hannah03, and hannah04 are fascinating artworks, glowing in vibrant red acrylic paint on canvas. A repetition of rounded shapes and straight lines find consistency in recognizable patterns. The eye is lead into believing that the different sections of shapes are levels of three dimension layers, one on top of another. The line of sight points towards the middle and the viewer is drawn into a space that seems to be in constant movement. In looking at these pieces, I liken them to the surface of the sun which displays an ever changing kaleidoscope of form and structure.

Alberta native Tammi Campbell currently lives and works in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan but has shown her work in different parts of Canada including The Banff Centre, the International Symposium of Contemporary Art of Baie-Saint-Paul, Galerie de l’UQAM in Montreal and the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatchewan but to name a few.

In the ‘Point Ligne Plan show, Campbell has presented pieces from two of her collections. The first being a series of graphite on folded Japanese Kozo paper entitled Dear Agnes, and the other are two pieces made with acrylic on museum board for the Work In Progress series.

In her Dear Agnes series, Campbell presents three 8 ½ x 11 sheet of Kozo Japanese drawn with rudimentary lines drawn with graphite. The lines are structured with even spaces and look like carefully placed bamboo blinds. The artist is quoted as saying that her inspiration for this work came about from a quote by Canadian artist Agnes Martin who was a native of Macklin, Saskatchewan. “My interest is in experience that is wordless and silent and in the fact that this experience can be expressed for me in art work which is also wordless and silent” (Martin).  According to Campbell, her pieces are silent letters in response to Martin’s work.

In keeping with the use of lines and minimal space, Campbell presents two pieces from her Work In Progress series. Instead of straight lines, Campbell focus on rounder shapes that silently make use of negative space to provide a reflection into the seemingly unfinished creative process of her work.

Jean-Benoît Pouliot is a self-taught artist who has made a name for himself with his foray into etching and his participation as part of the duo L’oeil de verre since the early 2000s.

In this show, Pouliot has presented three untitled pieces done with acrylic on canvas. Minimalist in nature, Pouliot explores simple lines that pierce and cut away at the overwhelming negative white space. Sharp lines are distinct in the foreground while additional shapes and muted tones are relegated to the background.

I really enjoyed the work by Julie Trudel who presented colourful pieces made with acrylic and silkscreen ink on Plywood. Trudel’s work is sonic and vibrates with colours that you can almost hear. The paintings are created by way of dropping the paint onto the plywood. This makes for an interesting manipulation of the media used to create a rich texture reminiscent of the seeds of a sunflower plant. White paint is added to the colours being used to change the tonal structure and impart movement into the pieces.

Originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, Trevor Gould is a graduate of the Johannesburg College of Art and at the University of South Africa. Gould has one of the most interesting pieces in this show. What we have here is a sculpture of the body of a man painted in silver up on top of the shoulders is a small hairy white monkey clutching the neck where the human head might be.

In his work, Gould explores issues of colonialism and post-colonialism and the appropriation of cultural space.  In reconstructing plants and animals that are reminiscent of his native South Africa, his creations serve to represent the domination of one culture over another.

Galerie Hugues Charbonneau
Marie-Claude Bouthillier, Tammi Campbell, Jean-Benoit Pouliot, Julie Trudel, Trevor Gould
Point Ligne Plan

July 6 – August 8, 2013
www.huguescharbonneau.com