{"id":11209,"date":"2012-04-05T15:03:21","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T15:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/artmur.com\/?page_id=11209"},"modified":"2016-12-16T16:57:24","modified_gmt":"2016-12-16T21:57:24","slug":"peripheriques-et-retables","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/artmur.com\/en\/artists\/claude-tousignant\/peripheriques-et-retables\/","title":{"rendered":"P\u00e9riph\u00e9riques et Retables"},"content":{"rendered":"
April 26 \u2013 June 16, 2012
\nClaude Tousignant: P\u00e9riph\u00e9riques et Retables<\/p>\n

Text by Sevan Injejikian<\/p>\n

During an era where the end of painting was declared and revoked, Claude Tousignant\u2019s artistic production has continued to plumb the aesthetic potential of geometric abstraction. With a career that spans six decades, Tousignant\u2019s approach dialogues with pioneers of abstract art while finding new ways to expand on the aesthetic concerns of his practice.<\/p>\n

Part of the generation of the Plasticiens, Tousignant has blurred the boundaries between sculpture and painting.1 His turn to the monochrome and his unwavering commitment to it since the 1980s has allowed him to explore spatiotemporal concerns that are informed by modernist tenets of art. By using form and colour to \u201cflatten\u201d the picture plane, ridding it of any illusion of depth and shifting the focus onto its frontality, he has extended painting into space thus bringing it, as Andria Hickey has noted, into the sculptural field.2 His approach has also brought the work into the realm of the spectator.<\/p>\n

In the Peripherique series (2010-2011) \u2013 which is a nod to Piet Mondrian\u2019s grids \u2013 a number of monochrome paintings are installed directly onto the gallery wall and form the overall composition of each work. Tousignant\u2019s play with colour and scale in the juxtaposition of various canvases creates a tension between the whole and its parts. When discussing his work in the past, Tousignant has explained that his interest lies in \u201cthe events that take place between the spectator (perceiver) and the object [artwork].\u201d3 In the abovementioned series, the tension created between the monochrome paintings and the work\u2019s physical inclusion of the exhibition space impacts the spectator\u2019s perception. It engages the senses as the individual paintings compete for one\u2019s attention, and underscores the interrelationship between artwork, exhibition space, and spectator. The \u2018white cube\u2019 of the gallery becomes an intrinsic part of the work and oscillates between architectural space and picture plane, gallery wall and canvas. The visual interdependence of the work and the exhibition wall points to how the gallery space not only frames the work but constitutes it.<\/p>\n

When contemplating Tousignant\u2019s work, one cannot help but wonder how his aesthetic concerns continue to resonate today. Viewed in a contemporary context where the \u201cwhite cube\u201d of the gallery is no longer seen as \u201cneutral\u201d or \u201cblank\u201d, the contested space of the art institution is not necessarily addressed but nevertheless becomes manifest. While his approach is rooted in modernism, Tousignant\u2019s nod to pioneers of abstract art strikes a chord with debates that remain current \u2013 the authority of the art institution in the formation of knowledge and the assessment of value when it comes to art.<\/p>\n

1. Mark Lanct\u00f4t, \u201cThe Elusive Monochromes of Claude Tousignant,\u201d Claude Tousignant, Paulette Gagnon, et al., (Montr\u00e9al : Mus\u00e9e d\u2019art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al, 2009) 206-213.
\n2. Andria Hickey, \u201cModulateur luso chromatique. Space: Ocular, Occupied,\u201d Invitation 2, no. 2 (Nov-Dec 2006): 6. See also Lanct\u00f4t 206 \u2013 213.
\n3. Normand Th\u00e9riault, Claude Tousignant: a text in two parts (New York: 49th Parallel, 1987): 22, as quoted in Hickey 6.<\/p><\/div>

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