David Lafrance: Summer 2014

The exhibition

Galerie Hugues Charbonneau presents a solo exhibition of works by Montreal artist David Lafrance. Observational drawings from the Montérégie region are shown alongside paintings created subsequently in his studio. These cognitive representations of the countryside stem from deep introspection, and evoke the memory of place and the current dynamics that inhabit it.

The large canvases on display often suggest landscapes, and benefit from the artist’s vast visual repertoire, simultaneously encompassing folk art imagery, pastoral scenes created through the subtle layering of glazes, maps sketched in freehand, and expressive impasto techniques.

Among the depicted scenes, symbols from popular culture become cultural clues in themselves. Folk art objects or modern relics inscribed within these turbulent landscapes offer a glimpse into our industrialized society’s relationship with nature. Indeed, the troubling yet seductive environments created by the artist through the amalgamation of anachronistic objects become cathartic tools to express life’s paradoxical impulses. These dichotomies, where symbolically charged objects cohabit in natural, yet unidentifiable spaces, trigger a narrative discourse that foregrounds the complex relationship modern humans have with their environment. Nature and civilisation meet in Lafrance’s creative work, allowing us to revisit our preconceived notions of reality.

Artist’s statement

Painter, sculptor and sound installation artist, Lafrance creates unique works where an exalted natural world unfolds and merges with elements of human life. Through the creation of Edenic landscapes, Lafrance explores his own psyche and awakens his sensitive spirit to test the limits of expressionism. Within the artist’s practice, where basic subjectivity is laid bare, expressiveness is used to explore human cognitive reflexes and reveal specific points of view. By doing so, the artist uses art’s expressivity to confer critical value upon it. Indeed, Lafrance’s enigmatic work generally revolves around dissenting themes such as escapist pursuits, industrialization, nature, or individual and collective identity.