Exhibition opening in two venues during the Journées de la culture
Saturday, September 28, 2024 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM
An exhibition presented at EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe from September 28 to December 22, 2024.
Presented as part of the activities Du cultuel au culturel (From Worship to Culture)
Architectures éphémères – Les bancs (Ephemeral Architectures – The Pews) is a major project created by the artist François Mathieu, in close collaboration with EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe. The project has unfolded in two time frames: a four-week residency in the Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire church, during summer 2024; and, as a result of the residency, the presentation of an exhibition at two sites in fall 2024. In this context, Mathieu’s mandate is to make use of church pews, including several transported to the second floor of the market, at EXPRESSION.
Aware of the rich symbolic stakes involved in the project, Mathieu and EXPRESSION wish to make a significant gesture before the church begins its conversion into the Musée d’art et société. By boldly repositioning the pews in the church’s nave, and by transforming some of them at EXPRESSION, Mathieu brings to light the historic transition from worship to culture that part of the Québec religious built heritage is undergoing.
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At the church, it seems that the pews have been detached from the floor and taken flight, somehow propelled by a crowbar that Mathieu has wielded. At EXPRESSION, their transformation opens up other avenues for appreciation and reflection. Mathieu’s tower exhibited at EXPRESSION is not without recalling the Soviet artist and sculptor Vladimir Tatlin’s tower and also his motto, “Real materials in real space,” as if he wanted to affirm the materiality of things – an idea that might also be closely linked to art and spirituality. More discreetly, the sphere, Mathieu’s talisman form, also finds its place in this project, both at the church and at EXPRESSION; in his studio, he transformed pews into spheres using an ingenious machine that he invented.
With the concepts that traverse both of his installation projects – weight, elevation, ephemerality, and the sphere – Mathieu sets us on the path to metaphysical reflection about the materiality of objects with a strong symbolic value. Through his approach, he underlines their importance as triggers – that is, as true (primary) objects of fascination, highlighting their capacity to arouse emotions and thoughts that vary in different eras and according to different belief systems. In short, Mathieu invites us to contemplate the coexistence of the timeless and the ephemeral, thanks to wooden furniture that is charged with meaning. On this subject, Mathieu adds, very rightly, “Seeking meaning through materials is, in a way, a definition of art.”
Marcel Blouin
EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe
François Mathieu thanks the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for its support for the project Architectures éphémères – Les bancs.
The exhibition Architectures éphémères - Les bancs by artist François Mathieu is presented in two locations:
At EXPRESSION, during regular hours
At Église Notre-Dame-Du-Rosaire, on the following dates:
Friday to Sunday - noon to 5 p.m.
– October 4 to 6, 2024
– October 18 to 20, 2024
– November 1 to 3, 2024
Visit the exhibition in the presence of the artist on Sundays in November, noon to 5 p.m.:
– November 3, 2024
– 10 novembre 2024
– 24 novembre 2024
Video of the exhibitions Architectures éphémères - Les bancs from artist François Mathieu and Chemin de croix presented at EXPRESSION, 6 min 39 s. © Félix Bouchard
Behind the scenes of François Mathieu’s residence at Notre-Dame-du-Rosaire church, 3 min 48 s., © Félix Bouchard