The practices of two Lyon-based artists, Caroline Saves and Benoît Vidal, have come together seamlessly for this exhibition. Their large array of works use the floors, walls, windows, and ceiling of Gallery B-312 to create the effect of one large interconnected installation. Their muted colour palette is tied to the gallery’s white walls, grey floors, and blueish daylight. At times, the gallery seems like a workspace at a perfect standstill, where plans are being sketched and materials have been placed aside for a moment: gloves on a windowsill, words and shapes chalked out on the floor. The space is filled with the tension between playfulness and gravity as one symbol, the hand, subtly directs our path through the show. Fuzzy gloves reach for, grip, and touch one another. Photographs of disembodied hands are encased in a felt frame, a pillow. The gestural language that is being explored here is communicated through such satisfying textures and materials familiarly soft or smooth, making the experience of the show a sensual one. At the same time, long, winding lengths of plastic or deflated bags are unsettling within this hyper-bodily atmosphere – they become unnaturally long arms, lifeless limbs. Vidal’s videos document his process, somehow accentuating the installation’s eerie disembodied quality as the things he has touched take on a life of their own outside the screen. Saves’ style is recognizable throughout in the use of suspension and strong choice of materials. In her unique pairings, familiar items morph into something entirely new. Saves and Vidal’s residency undoubtedly blended their respective expertise, producing works with a comforting and disquieting presence that lingers and lingers.
This show is part of the Conversations: Montreal/Lyon project which includes another Belgo Building gallery (Arprim, centre d’essai en art imprimé) and two other Montreal galleries (La Vitrine and Diagonale). It runs until March 2, 2019.