Montreal - Abstract Prints

Born in 1967 in Toronto and a graduate of OCAD and University of Guelph, multidisciplinary artist Franco DeFrancesca investigates the links between art and technology, using digital ...

The title "Interventions On The Imaginary" is a clear reference to Marcia Crosby’s essay, "The Construction of the Imaginary Indian", and situates itself within the realm of remix cu...

Resin coated and mounted to layers of plywood, these digital/mixed media ‘picture objects’ represent interpretations of contemporary visual culture charmed by minimalism, modernism, ...

Resin coated and mounted to layers of plywood, these digital/mixed media ‘picture objects’ represent interpretations of contemporary visual culture charmed by minimalism, modernism...

Titled after an episode of Star Trek, The Paradise Syndrome features new work by Sonny Assu. Combining Indigenous content with appropriated images and text from marine chart maps, covers from Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, and science fiction television programs, this exhibition continues Assu’s exploration around the intersection of Indigenous Peoples and North American pop culture. In the Star Trek episode The Paradise Syndrome, Captain Kirk suffers from amnesia when he arrives on an alien planet, which is inhabited by a society of people who resemble Indigenous Peoples in North America. Kirk is found by a group of women who believe that he is a god and then take him back to their community. At the end of the episode, he is attacked when they realize he is not a god. Spock and McCoy are transported to his rescue, but in the midst of the conflict, a tribal priestess who Kirk developed a relationship with, is killed. In this exhibition, Assu presents two series of digitally altered prints inspired by fact and fiction. The first series depicts ovoids superimposed onto digital scans of paintings by Emily Carr and A.Y. Jackson, framed by gamebook covers. The prints feature alien forms descending, referencing a Star Trek: Voyager episode titled Tattoo. In this episode, Chakotay meets the Sky Spirits, aliens who visited Earth thousands of years ago. They met nomadic humans who had great respect for the land and other animals. The Sky Spirits were so impressed that they gifted the nomads with an inheritance that would allow them to thrive and protect their world. When the Sky Spirits returned thousands of years later, they found that the weapons and diseases of invaders from other lands had decimated the nomadic ‘Inheritors’. Chakotay’s tattoo was the mark of an Inheritor and signaled to the Sky Spirits that some of the Inheritors had survived. Assu’s gamebook prints expand on this fictional story, incorporating aspects of our colonial history in the Pacific Northwest. This exhibition is a playful investigation of challenging issues. By incorporating nostalgic gamebooks from the 1980s, Assu alludes to the discovery of his Kwawaka’wakw heritage, which has recently led him back to living in his ancestral land. The second series of Assu’s prints in this exhibition depict digital illustrations, inspired by Indigenous copper shield symbols, that are superimposed onto navigational marine maps...

Titled after an episode of Star Trek, The Paradise Syndrome features new work by Sonny Assu. Combining Indigenous content with appropriated images and text from marine chart maps, covers from Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, and science fiction television programs, this exhibition continues Assu’s exploration around the intersection of Indigenous Peoples and North American pop culture. In the Star Trek episode The Paradise Syndrome, Captain Kirk suffers from amnesia when he arrives on an alien planet, which is inhabited by a society of people who resemble Indigenous Peoples in North America. Kirk is found by a group of women who believe that he is a god and then take him back to their community. At the end of the episode, he is attacked when they realize he is not a god. Spock and McCoy are transported to his rescue, but in the midst of the conflict, a tribal priestess who Kirk developed a relationship with, is killed. In this exhibition, Assu presents two series of digitally altered prints inspired by fact and fiction. The first series depicts ovoids superimposed onto digital scans of paintings by Emily Carr and A.Y. Jackson, framed by gamebook covers. The prints feature alien forms descending, referencing a Star Trek: Voyager episode titled Tattoo. In this episode, Chakotay meets the Sky Spirits, aliens who visited Earth thousands of years ago. They met nomadic humans who had great respect for the land and other animals. The Sky Spirits were so impressed that they gifted the nomads with an inheritance that would allow them to thrive and protect their world. When the Sky Spirits returned thousands of years later, they found that the weapons and diseases of invaders from other lands had decimated the nomadic ‘Inheritors’. Chakotay’s tattoo was the mark of an Inheritor and signaled to the Sky Spirits that some of the Inheritors had survived. Assu’s gamebook prints expand on this fictional story, incorporating aspects of our colonial history in the Pacific Northwest. This exhibition is a playful investigation of challenging issues. By incorporating nostalgic gamebooks from the 1980s, Assu alludes to the discovery of his Kwawaka’wakw heritage, which has recently led him back to living in his ancestral land. The second series of Assu’s prints in this exhibition depict digital illustrations, inspired by Indigenous copper shield symbols, that are superimposed onto navigational marine maps...

Titled after an episode of Star Trek, The Paradise Syndrome features new work by Sonny Assu. Combining Indigenous content with appropriated images and text from marine chart maps, covers from Choose Your Own Adventure gamebooks, and science fiction television programs, this exhibition continues Assu’s exploration around the intersection of Indigenous Peoples and North American pop culture. In the Star Trek episode The Paradise Syndrome, Captain Kirk suffers from amnesia when he arrives on an alien planet, which is inhabited by a society of people who resemble Indigenous Peoples in North America. Kirk is found by a group of women who believe that he is a god and then take him back to their community. At the end of the episode, he is attacked when they realize he is not a god. Spock and McCoy are transported to his rescue, but in the midst of the conflict, a tribal priestess who Kirk developed a relationship with, is killed. In this exhibition, Assu presents two series of digitally altered prints inspired by fact and fiction. The first series depicts ovoids superimposed onto digital scans of paintings by Emily Carr and A.Y. Jackson, framed by gamebook covers. The prints feature alien forms descending, referencing a Star Trek: Voyager episode titled Tattoo. In this episode, Chakotay meets the Sky Spirits, aliens who visited Earth thousands of years ago. They met nomadic humans who had great respect for the land and other animals. The Sky Spirits were so impressed that they gifted the nomads with an inheritance that would allow them to thrive and protect their world. When the Sky Spirits returned thousands of years later, they found that the weapons and diseases of invaders from other lands had decimated the nomadic ‘Inheritors’. Chakotay’s tattoo was the mark of an Inheritor and signaled to the Sky Spirits that some of the Inheritors had survived. Assu’s gamebook prints expand on this fictional story, incorporating aspects of our colonial history in the Pacific Northwest. This exhibition is a playful investigation of challenging issues. By incorporating nostalgic gamebooks from the 1980s, Assu alludes to the discovery of his Kwawaka’wakw heritage, which has recently led him back to living in his ancestral land. The second series of Assu’s prints in this exhibition depict digital illustrations, inspired by Indigenous copper shield symbols, that are superimposed onto navigational marine maps...

Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice. Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada. Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.). Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...

Text by Anaïs Castro It is the luminous colours of Michel Piquette’s works that first catch the eye. His chromatic circles that stir up vision tak...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...

It is the luminous colours of Michel Piquette’s works that first catch the eye. His chromatic circles that stir up vision take root in an aesthetic tradition a few decades old alread...

It is the luminous colours of Michel Piquette’s works that first catch the eye. His chromatic circles that stir up vision take root in an aesthetic tradition a few decades old alread...

Jean-Paul Riopelle, 1923-2002, Canadian Autres mouches no 3, 1985 Lithograph on Japan paper 20 1/2 x 26 3/4 in Signed and numbered in pencil, edition of 75 Catalogue raisonné refer...

Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice. Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada. Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.). Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...

Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...

Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your everyday average suburbanite, it wasn't until he was eight years old that he discovered his Liǥwildax̱w/Kwakwaka’wakw heritage. Later in life, this discovery would be the conceptual focal point that helped launch his unique art practice. Assu's artistic practice is diverse: spanning painting, sculpture, photography, digital art and printmaking. Sonny negotiates Western and Kwakwaka’wakw principles of art making as a means of exploring his family history and the experiences of being an Indigenous person in the colonial state of Canada. Having cut his teeth in Vancouver's art scene, Assu packed up and moved to Montreal to be with the love of his life. Five years later, along with his wife and beautiful daughter, Sonny moved back to BC, eventually settling back "home" in unceded Liǥwildaʼx̱w territory (Campbell River, BC.). Assu received his BFA from the Emily Carr University in 2002 and was the recipient of their distinguished alumni award in 2006. He received the BC Creative Achievement Award in First Nations art...

Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...

Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...

Sonny Assu (Liǥwildaʼx̱w of the Kwakwaka’wakw Nations) was raised in North Delta, BC, over 250 km away from his home ancestral home on Vancouver Island. Having been raised as your ev...

My painting practice began with subverting the idea of a still life to create an absurd experience where the presence of carefully observed and exaggerated absurd forms painted from ...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...

Titled after an episode of Star Trek, The Paradise Syndrome features new work by Sonny Assu. Combining Indigenous content with appropriated images and text from marine chart...

It is the luminous colours of Michel Piquette’s works that first catch the eye. His chromatic circles that stir up vision take root in an aesthetic tr...

It is the luminous colours of Michel Piquette’s works that first catch the eye. His chromatic circles that stir up vision take root in an aesthetic tradition a few decades old alread...

It is the luminous colours of Michel Piquette’s works that first catch the eye. His chromatic circles that stir up vision take root in an aesthetic tr...

Going North in the Work of Jessica Houston By L. Sasha Gora Jessica Houston’s most recent works look north. What is north? Where is it? Is it a fixed place, or something else? He...

Going North in the Work of Jessica Houston By L. Sasha Gora Jessica Houston’s most recent works look north. What is north? Where is it? Is it a fixed place, or something else? He...

Going North in the Work of Jessica Houston By L. Sasha Gora Jessica Houston’s most recent works look north. What is north? Where is it? Is it a fixed place, or something else? Her second solo show at Art Mûr brings together paintings, a sound sculpture, and chine collé prints, all of which reveal a fragile, fluid, and often fractured, north. An iron ore stone becomes a speaker, playing recordings of interviews and singing, and expanding the physical presence of the stone. The exaggerated textures of the paintings give them, too, a sculptural and documentary feel. They record how actions—breaking and piercing, pushing and pulling—disrupt and transform the paintings’ surfaces. By resembling patterns one finds in the wild—scratches across the surface of a rock, uneven waves that form on melting snow—they unhinge any clear distinction between what is natural and what is made. Made with a printmaking technique that binds together distinct papers, the chine collé prints begin with photographs Houston took of Baffin Island. She then combines the images with coloured paper, creating traces of the process of extracting and replacing parts of a scene, and an equal awareness of both what is present and absent. Some are composed of double circles, like looking through binoculars. In Business As Usual, a decaying interior—peeling wallpaper...

Going North in the Work of Jessica Houston By L. Sasha Gora Jessica Houston’s most recent works look north. What is north? Where is it? Is it a fixed place, or something else? He...

Going North in the Work of Jessica Houston By L. Sasha Gora Jessica Houston’s most recent works look north. What is north? Where is it? Is it a fixed place, or something else? He...

Going North in the Work of Jessica Houston By L. Sasha Gora Jessica Houston’s most recent works look north. What is north? Where is it? Is it a fixed place, or something else? Her second solo show at Art Mûr brings together paintings, a sound sculpture, and chine collé prints, all of which reveal a fragile, fluid, and often fractured, north. An iron ore stone becomes a speaker, playing recordings of interviews and singing, and expanding the physical presence of the stone. The exaggerated textures of the paintings give them, too, a sculptural and documentary feel. They record how actions—breaking and piercing, pushing and pulling—disrupt and transform the paintings’ surfaces. By resembling patterns one finds in the wild—scratches across the surface of a rock, uneven waves that form on melting snow—they unhinge any clear distinction between what is natural and what is made. Made with a printmaking technique that binds together distinct papers, the chine collé prints begin with photographs Houston took of Baffin Island. She then combines the images with coloured paper, creating traces of the process of extracting and replacing parts of a scene, and an equal awareness of both what is present and absent. Some are composed of double circles, like looking through binoculars. In Business As Usual, a decaying interior—peeling wallpaper...

Going North in the Work of Jessica Houston By L. Sasha Gora Jessica Houston’s most recent works look north. What is north? Where is it? Is it a fixed place, or something else? He...

For years, Laurent Lamarche has questioned the relationship between nature and artifice by producing fictional living organisms. Lamarche’s practice explores the following question, ...