Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain is pleased to present new works by Montréal artist John Latour in Chimérique from November 10 to December 22, 2007 . This exhibition of sculpture, text-based art and photography highlights three distinct but related bodies of work that reflect upon our tenuous links to the past.

Vintage found objects are source material for Latour's sculptural practice. Attracted to the sense of history attached to these items, the artist acknowledges that their original histories have been lost. Through alterations to their function and form, Latour makes the familiar strangely unfamiliar. He undermines any sense of comfort that we might come to expect from these objects.

The artist also presents new pieces from an ongoing series of text-based art taken from some of his favourite works of fiction. By applying layers of white paint directly on to pages from nineteenth-century Gothic novels, Latour erases the original stories and replaces them with new ones using the words that remain. Presented in antique frames and hung salon-style in the gallery, they resemble inspirational mottos from the past; although their current meaning remains ambiguous.

Chimérique provides the first opportunity to see a new production by Latour based on found photographs. Using flecks of white paint, he literally “blanks out” unidentified figures from old snapshots and portraits. This process of erasure points to the inevitable fading of all subjects over time.

By juxtaposing and combining these modified vintage objects, nineteenth-century stories and old photographs; Chimérique evokes a fragile past populated by elusive subjects.

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SCULPTURES

	I lullaby 2007, wooden lamp and baby carriage, child's umbrella, shoelaces, printed text on paper with acrylic paint variable dimensions (work on paper: 20,5 x 12,4 cm)		I lullaby (detail) 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm
	I became a shelter 2007, wooden table with metal hinges, acrylic paint, printed text on paper with acrylic paint sculpture: 80 x 70 x 41 cm; work on paper: 20,5 x 12,4 cm		I became a shelter (detail) 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm
	Mother mother, father father 2007, wooden rocking horse with metronome, printed text on paper with acrylic paint sculpture: 36 x 66 x 22 cm; works on paper: 20,5 x 12,4 cm each		Mother mother, father father (détail) 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm
	Mother mother, father father (detail) 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm

TEXT-BASED WORKS

He was not of this world 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm		Sometimes I wish 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm		O! miserable me 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm
Others will guess that I was the twin 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm		The heavens were depressed 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm		Thus the stars announced my destruction 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm
I abstained from youth 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm		Enter the asylum 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm		To unread was not safe 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm
Six bells had enslaved the curtained city 2007, printed text on paper with acrylic paint 20,5 x 12,4 cm

PHOTO-BASED WORKS

Young girl in white sitting on tricycle 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 15,3 x 10,2 cm		Profile of woman in black coat with skiers in the background 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 7,6 x 7,7 cm		Young girl sitting on veranda between two older women 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 9 x 6 cm
Man with dark fur coat and hat posing rather uncomfortably on snow-covered street 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 8,4 x 6 cm		Older couple (or daughter and father) standing beside stone building 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 9,5 x 6,7 cm		Finely dressed mother standing behind a fidgety child on chair 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 9,1 x 6,2 cm
Small child (boy?) sitting on a stool with silhouettes of others (parents?) in foreground 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 9 x 6,4 cm		Young woman in sweater and skirt smiling modestly 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 8,8 x 6,2 cm		Young woman in striped dress sitting on driftwood by the water's edge 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 8,8 x 6,4 cm
Father (centre) and two teenage daughters perched over a rock ledge 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 12,2 x 7,5 cm		Young woman in long skirt (white) with black buttons 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 9,7 x 7 cm		Four close friends (two men and two women) kneeling for portrait 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 11,5 x 7 cm
Handsome couple 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 14 x 8,6 cm		Aged couple standing to the left of three middle-aged women (daughters?), Woman on far right holding infant 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 13 x 9 cm		Well-dressed, young woman approaching couple with dog on bench 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 8 x 11 cm
Three women and one man (centre) sitting on the grass in a field 2007, found photograph with acrylic paint 7 x 11,3 cm

/TOP/

Christine Redfern. "Whiting out history."The Mirror (Montreal) 6 December 2007
click here for John Latour's biography

click here for John Latour's current C.V.

HELD OVER IN PFOAC/ANNEXE

November 10 to December 20, 2007
Locus horribilis



Ed Pien
Subvertbia , 2007
Manipulated photograph on styrene
23.1 x 13.9 cm

From November 10 to December 20, 2007 Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain presents Locus Horribilis , a collaborative artists' project coordinated by Felicity Tayler and John Latour. This project is part of the Petite enveloppe urbaine series and was produced under the auspices of the Centre de recherche de Montréal ( www.crum.ca ).

This special display of small-format art brings together the work of nine contemporary artists or artist duos from Montréal, Toronto, and Vermont. Participants include Anadama (Dana Dal Bo & AN Soubiran) , John Latour , Christopher Lori , Logan MacDonald , Ed Pien , David Poolman , Mark Prent , Felicity Tayler & Chris McLeod , and Johannes Zits .

Locus horribilis is inspired by today's fascination for all things Gothic, a phenomenon that can be traced back to supernatural tales of the 18th and 19th centuries that invoke themes of terror, alienation, abjection, fragmentation, death and decay. These stories were often set in remote or foreboding places such as castles, cathedrals, and ruins; although more recent works of contemporary Gothic art are just as easily set in abandoned warehouses, suburban shopping malls, futuristic dystopias, etc.

The artists of Locus horribilis reinterpret the idea of the “horrible place” as an open-ended concept – a fictional place, a literal space, or a metaphorical site that explores the darker sides of the imagination. Individual works from this project reflect the rich and multi-faceted nature of the contemporary Gothic phenomenon.

No. 14 in the Petite enveloppe urbaine series, Locus horribilis is printed in a limited edition of 66 and will be available for sale during the launch of the project on November 10.

Outside of the Ordinary

This presentation of video and animated films by some of the participating artists of Locus horribilis also runs from November 10 to December 20, 2007. Outside of the Ordinary inaugurates the projection room of Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain and features new and recent works by Anadama (Dana Dal Bo & AN Soubiran) , Christopher Lori , Logan MacDonald , David Poolman and Felicity Tayler . Selected by John Latour for the imaginative ways in which they explore themes of alienation, marginalization, love and surgical interventions, these works fall somewhere outside of mainstream culture's representations of itself.

Programme:

Fault , 2007 (38 min 42 sec)
Christopher Lori

Isolated in ruins of passion HE and SHE confront THEIR proximity amidst incidences of ignorance, paralysis, empathy and danger … (CL)

13 Instances , 2006 (15 min)
David Poolman

Using a series of found video and sound footage, 13 instances investigates teenage rebellion and isolation through the online diaries of teenage death metal enthusiasts. (DP)

Lost Time , 2003 (5 min 20 sec)
Logan MacDonald

… a navigation through time, though still conveying a timelessness. (LM)

Belle-Pro , 2003 (40 sec)
Felicity Tayler

At the end of the block there was a cafeteria-style restaurant, it was where the sex workers hung out, and the limo drivers. This is the moment before the condos went up (FT)

Position 4 : Elizabeth and Barry , 2007 (1 min 46 sec)
Anadama (Dana Dal Bo & AN Soubiran) avec la manipulation de vidéo et la partition par Aysa

The correction of physical defects, the repair of injuries, and the treatment of disease. esp. by operation.