Nine artists remember the future at Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain: Shuvenai Ashoona, Alexandre Castonguay, Adad Hannah, Dil Hildebrand, Maskull Lasserre, John Latour, Ed Pien, Annie Pootoogook, and Chih-Chien Wang. The title of the show Memory of the Future refers to the artist’s practice of referencing, repeating, and re-inventing, both in the context of the artist’s personal day-to-day work, but also in reference to an artist’s career as a whole.

It’s a loose concept for an exhibition, and the artworks are quite disparate in stylistic approach, subject matter, and medium. But that didn’t hamper my enjoyment of the show. I was particularly taken by John Labour’s piece Her Lovely Boy is Condemned, a deceptively simple piece which fascinated me with its lyrical censorship. Dil Hildebrand shows one large, vivid painting simply titled Folder, its glowing edges and disorienting yet balanced composition of empty flat spaces hinting at an office space. Alexandre Castonguay’s piece Cube is more descriptive, in fact his entire studio appears to be laid bare in this panorama shot, splayed open and ready to be dissected. All works on display are worth seeing, though – thankfully – none gave me a sense of déjà vu.

Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain, space 216
Memory of the Future
Shuvenai Ashoona, Alexandre Castonguay, Adad Hannah, Dil Hildebrand, Maskull Lasserre, John Latour, Ed Pien, Annie Pootoogook, and Chih-Chien Wang
August 12 – 27, 2011
www.pfoac.com