Opening : Thursday May 15 from 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm
Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain is pleased to present In the Outside, an exhibition of new work by Dil Hildebrand that examines nature and its representation. In his characteristic fashion, Hildebrand subverts the genre of landscape painting with shallow stages that echo theatrical sets, placing us simultaneously on the inside looking out and the outside looking in.
In these paintings, landscapes recorded from the artist’s native Manitoba lay in the distance of oddly interior foregrounds, populated with assortments of abstract shapes, line drawings and painterly vegetation that contrast with their naturalistic settings. Fences and passageways operate as invitations to enter these curious mises en scène, calling attention to the unease of movement between spaces inside and outside the paintings’ pictorial logic. Hildebrand reminds us that the sheltering spaces we recognize in these paintings may not be a sanctuary; the outside world intrudes, both physically and psychologically, and the distinctions between it and our safe interiors remain ambiguous.
Hildebrand’s work has been shown internationally in such venues as the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2012); Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal (2014); Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto (2006); National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2010); Fondation Giverny pour l'art contemporain (2024); Herron Galleries at University of Indiana, Indianapolis (2013); Choi&Lager Gallery, Cologne (2013); Union Gallery, London UK (2012&13); University of Manitoba School of Art Gallery, Winnipeg (2013); YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto (2011); Galerie de l’UQAM, Montreal (2013); and AUT University Gallery, Auckland NZ (2007);
He has been awarded a number of distinguished grants and awards including the International Residency at Acme Studios, London UK (2013); the Canada Council for the Arts (2010, 2014, 2019); the Banff Centre Thematic Residency (2009); Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (2009, 2024) and was winner of the RBC National Painting Competition (2006).
His work has been collected by major public institutions throughout Canada, including the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the National Gallery of Canada, Fondation Giverny pour l'art contemporain and the Art Bank of the Canada Council, as well as numerous private and corporate collections throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.
