It takes time to see

Curated by: René Blouin

This exhibition was originally supposed to be presented in May 2020, during the 2020 edition of the Scotiabank Contact Festival but had to be postponed when we entered the great long pause. It features the work of three artists from three generations, each prodding the apparatus and devices of the photographic and the filmic image: Geneviève Cadieux, Pascal Grandmaison and Mathieu Grenier.

The exponential expansion of the community of images over the last few decades has brought forth an incredible wealth of new processes, new materials and new supports unimagined only a few years ago. 3D printing is already old news and we now have a new generation of images created by robots. This formidable revolution has afforded a rich array of new avenues to be explored by artists that allow them to reconsider both the ontological and the formal aspects of what constitutes a photograph.

The three artists featured in this exhibition each approach the notion of the mechanical image from a particular position, but all three place their lenses on the natural landscape. Geneviève Cadieux's monumental prints encapsulate the intense power of the austere yet rich landscape of mythic Marfa, Texas. Pascal Grandmaison playfully inverts narrative sequences and manipulates filters to weave a poetic space that transforms blandness into ethereal climates. Under Mathieu Grenier’s hand the chemical substances traditionally used to reveal images are diverted to mimic painted gestures. The juxtaposition of these three bodies of work forms a meditative and poetic environment amidst these dramatic times. As the great painter Agnes Martin said so well in a 1974 interview with Kate Horsefield and Lynn Blumenthal, it takes time to see.

- René Blouin

Geneviève Cadieux (b. 1955 in Montreal, QC lives and works in Montreal, QC). Her work has been featured in biennials in Montreal, São Paulo, and Venice. With solo exhibitions at Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, Tate Gallery (London), Pittsburgh Centre for the Arts (Pittsburgh),and is the recipient of the 2011 Governor Generals Award for Arts and Media.

Pascal Grandmaison (b. 1975 in Montreal, QC, lives and works in Montreal, QC). Grandmaison has exhibited extensively in North America and Europe, including at Casino Luxembourg - Forum d’art contemporain (Luxembourg), National gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver), Jack Shainman Gallery (New York), Canadian Cultural Centre (Paris), Existentie (Gent, Belgium), Centre for Contemporary Art (Warsaw). His videos have been presented internationally, more recently at Haus der Kulturen des Welt (Berlin), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Edinburgh Art Festival (Edinburgh), Le Fresnoy (Tourcoing), Centre Pompidou (Paris) and Centre de l’image contemporaine (Geneva). 

Mathieu Grenier (b. 1985 in Black Lake, QC, lives and works in Montreal, QC). He has exhibited his work in solo exhibitions at La forteresse ouverte Centre d’art La Halle (France), grayDUCK Gallery (Texas), and Plein sud (Quebec).