Opening reception and performance by Éric Lamontagne : Saturday, July 18, 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Crescendo: Orchestrating One’s Own Story (1996-2026): Sonny Assu, Ingrid Bachmann, Jason Baerg, Patrick Beaulieu, Judith Berry, Patrick Bérubé, BGL, Melvin Charney, Robbie Cornelissen, Marc Antoine Côté, Nicholas Crombach, Shayne Dark, Pierre Dorion, Kevin Dubeau, Eddy Firmin, David Garneau, Emy Gagnon Gélinas, Karine Giboulo, Hédy Gobaa, Mathieu Gotti, Adam Gunn, Jessica Houston, Jean-Robert Drouillard, Holly King, Guillaume Lachapelle, Laurent Lamarche, Éric Lamontagne, Cal Lane, Pierre Laroche, Zeke Moores, Mohadese Movahed, Clint Neufeld, Samuel Nnorom, Christine Nobel, Adétọnà Omokanye, Michael Patten, Karine Payette, Brigitte Radecki, Bevan Ramsay, Heather Shillinglaw, Oli Sorenson, Diana Thorneycroft, Claude Tousignant, David Umemoto, Brandon Vickerd, Colleen Wolstenholme, Jinny Yu.
Art Mûr is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year. Since January, we have redoubled our efforts so that the proposed exhibition projects stand out within Montreal’s cultural offerings, which are, as we know, exceptional. But without a group exhibition, it wouldn’t feel like a proper celebration for us. Art Mûr made its name with curated thematic group exhibitions: over the last 30 years, we’ve presented more than 80 of them. It all began with Du côté de chez soi, curated by Roger Bellemare. After that, it was two to three group shows per year. Among the most significant were definitely our anniversary exhibitions such as Art Fiction for our 10th, Mens-moi for our 15th, Grandeur Nature for our 20th, and Terra Nova / Regard sur le présent et le futur for our 25th. Today, it is with great pleasure that we continue our tradition with Crescendo: Orchestrating One’s Own Story (1996–2026). With an eye to the past and the future, we have composed this visual symphony.
Our aim is not only to highlight our history and how we built it, but also those of the participating artists, without whom we would not be here today. We want to acknowledge the endurance and ambition we all share. Crescendo: Orchestrating One’s Own Story (1996–2026) will feature more than thirty artists. This is the perfect time to see, across our three floors of exhibition spaces, all these artists who are represented in Canadian and international museum and corporate collections!
This project allows us to highlight the work of several artists who mark thirty years of collaboration, from our early years in the Saint-Henri neighborhood to today on Saint-Hubert Street in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie district. Carry the Torch by Nova Scotian artist Adam Gunn illustrates dignity in obstinacy—a kind of heroic stubbornness or survival instinct, both childlike and admirable. It is this doggedness that has allowed us to get where we are today. This work is an image of our perseverance and our desire to forge our own path, to orchestrate our story.
For some twenty years, artist Judith Berry has accompanied us in our ambitions and exhibitions. Side by side, we have grown and experimented. Large Discs and Sticks offers an optimistic vision of change and aspiration. Colorful targets appear alongside an army of sticks breaking ranks, and then flexible bridges and tunnels. It’s an absurd obstacle course buoyed by hope. It is essential for us to acknowledge our years of collaboration with Berry, who has greatly helped us build our identity.
Michael Patten, a Cree artist from the Zagime Anishinabek Nation, has been by our side for almost twenty years. Employee, curator, artist, and friend, he is a vital and indispensable point of reference for our artists and collaborators, offering a friendly and familiar face. His work addresses Indigenous identities and histories linked to the colonial past. Untitled features an Indigenous headdress as a symbol of Indigenous identity. It is covered with a thick layer of white paint, enough to create a puddle—a “white” tide—on the floor. Patten thus questions ideas of essentialism while critiquing the ways Indigenous values and territories have been co-opted to ultimately become cultural and economic commodities.
Hédy Gobaa uses painting to better perceive everyday events. For him, painting enables a process of acclimatization—that is, an attempt to understand the void. His most recent work, Du bonheur en barre, is part of his new ongoing series that uses the codes of the pop, infantilizing, and kitsch imagery of Western consumer society. This painting is intended as a critique of the notion of “happiness,” a media tool of normalization and control that seeks to buy social peace and render the critical stance obsolete. The little girl, as Nemesis, goddess of justice and vengeance, finds herself a unicorn and dreams of being able to solve all the world’s problems.
By our side for more than 10 years, artist Éric Lamontagne presents Sous le vernis, a large-scale installation that stages a crime scene, accompanied by a performance by the artist disguised as Réal Lessart, inspired by the Quebec art forger who operated in the 1980s. He orchestrates a scenario in which the public is invited to take part in the investigation in a kind of game of Clue, à la Agatha Christie. This installation was presented last year at Art Toronto, to the great delight of visitors to the international art fair.
Nova Scotian artist Colleen Wolstenholme has accompanied us for over 15 years in our ventures and ambitions. From June to November, a major retrospective of her work is on view at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton (NB). Wolstenholme is particularly known for creating jewelry that reproduces pharmaceutical pills from a feminist perspective. Indeed, women are prescribed antidepressants more often than men. She also notes the embarrassment and discomfort people feel when it comes time to admit they take medication. Thus, Wolstenholme has created a series of jewelry (bracelets, necklaces, etc.) with multiple prescription pill–shaped pendants. Her Birth Control/Viagra Rosary also reflects on female sexuality and the responsibility imposed on women with regard to contraception.
These are just six examples among many that will allow us to mark this anniversary. It is impossible for us to thank all our collaborators, but this stands as a letter of appreciation for all those who have supported us since the beginning.