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Opening date:
Thursday, October 13 at 7:30pm
Artist talk:
Thursday, October 13 at 6:00pm
Jo Cook and Michèle Provost bring to Gallery 101 new approaches to contemporary popular culture and socio-cultural history. The shows embody an energy of constant dynamism and activity. Both of the installations manifest the spirit of the “animateur”, who is the seminal artist, utilizing her/his skills, talents and personality to enable others to compose, design, devise, create, perform and engage with works of art of any kind. Rooted in a need for increasing the supply of artists properly equipped to work in education and community settings, the function of the “animateur” has developed into one where individual artists are able to create environments for people to enter into a creative dialogue or framework of arts-making. Through the combination of art forms such as drawing, sculpture, fictional writing or accessible popular culture, and educational settings, e.g., the classroom, library, book fair, or display areas, viewers are invited to explore freely. The activity of the animateur requires research, practical application and some sort of outcome, and is rooted in a process of educational exchange where viewers are able to bring their own skills, life experience, curiosity, passion—and also a readiness to put themselves at risk: it is the ultimate relationship of artists, education and conceptual work. –Jessie Lacayo, Curator
Countdown to madness
Inspired by the sampling approach of DJs, Michèle Provost has composed her own visual version of a Top 40 chart, using “samples” from classic rock lyrics of the past four decades in this exhibition entitled It’s only Rock and Roll1.
Yet, unlike the traditional Top 40 based on the current ratings, the artist has assembled a random collection of subjective choices and playful considerations, boldly mixing moods and concepts that run the spectrum between assertiveness and doubt. True to form, she creates, once again, a personal universe written in the first person that manages to be simultaneously egocentric and universal. For beyond the initial game of recognition and association, this countdown plunges us deep into our own memories and personal stories by drawing on the shared soundtrack of our lives.
The combination of each quote with its carefully selected fabric, font, colour, pattern and design references different time periods and fashions, implying gender, age or social rank, while remaining deliberately open to multiple interpretations. As the viewer proceeds to untangle the references, visual and conceptual associations come into play to fully enhance the complexity of the whole. This marriage of text and visuals alternatively plays on similarities to reinforce the point, or contrasts to create tensions, ultimately engaging a dialogue on the realities and perceptions of our world.
In the end, this is definitely not only Rock and Roll. Provost’s Top 40, while posing as a tribute to the artist’s favorite music, is also a direct testimony to our collective madness. Her very choice of quotes implies a strong dose of social criticism and commitment to fundamental issues, both old and new. Suitably, the large formats are reminiscent of the banners used in protest, which reinforces this general call to awareness and reflection. It’s only Rock and Roll implies a desire for mobilization and change on issues as varied as war, blind consumerism and the condition of the artist, to name a few. This unlikely collection of borrowed voices, singing as one, contribute to a grand production which questions our values, lifestyles, economics, and politics, discreetly pushing us to take a much needed step forward in the advancement of humanity.
Overall, It’s only Rock and Roll presents us with the best in music and the worst in human nature.
–Suzanne Richard, writer,
translated by Michèle Provost
Bios:
Michèle Provost obtained a Diploma in Visual arts from the Ottawa School of Art, 2000; she has a background in woodcarving, photography and mixed media from the Artists’ Warehouse Studios, Norwich, England. Her work is characterized by assemblages and embroidery executed in a deliberate and conceptual manner. Provost has received awards from the the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, and was awarded the Prix de la Relève-Fondation pour les arts et lettres en Outaouais. She has exhibited her solo work at La Maison de la culture de Gatineau, le Centre des arts de Shawinigan, the Karsh-Mason Gallery, la Maison de la culture de Côte-des-Neiges, and the Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario. Her upcoming exhibition entitled Une journée dans la vie de Maggy M. will premier at Galerie Montcalm in Gatineau, from November 3 to December 18, 2005.
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