One glance at a recent Pierre Dorion painting easily prompts a label of 鈥渁bstract鈥� or 鈥渕odern.鈥� And while many works in the mid-career survey of the Ottawa-born, Montreal-based artist鈥檚 work at the remain loyal to abstraction鈥檚 emphasis on shape, colour and the canvas surface, many also play with the viewer鈥檚 perception of space.
This time we鈥檝e asked J茅r么me Blais, professor in the Department of Music, and Catherine Venart, assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Planning, to take a tour and view the show 鈥� currently in its final week 鈥� through the lens of their respective disciplines.
Considering composition
Though Dr. Blais confesses he isn鈥檛 interested in basing his musical compositions on visual images, he says, 鈥淚t鈥檚 always quite fascinating to try to draw parallels between disciplines.鈥�
In Gate (The Piers), seven canvases comprised of vertical stripes of blue-grey, muted tangerine, and other colours, he sees 鈥渟ome pretty obvious connections to the American minimalists 鈥� Philip Glass and Steve Reich and so on.鈥�
Beyond any cadence conjured by the stripes of complimentary colours, Dr. Blais likes Gate because it 鈥渦ses the physical, actual space 鈥� there鈥檚 a gap between the [canvases], and that gap is identical to the painting itself,鈥� he says, meaning the shadow created in the space between the canvases visually becomes another stripe. From a distance, 鈥測ou鈥檙e not so sure where the line is between them. I find that very interesting.鈥�
Dr. Blais, a composer who uses elements of improvisation, thinks 鈥渁bout the overall structure鈥� as he creates a piece of music. 鈥淚 write some things, but then I leave room for the performers to be spontaneous within that overall framework,鈥� he explains.
In contrast, many of Dorion鈥檚 paintings seem very carefully orchestrated, so to speak. There鈥檚 nary a trace of a brushstroke, and each piece seems planned down to the last millimeter. (The gallery鈥檚 director reveals that many lines have straight edges thanks to masking tape.)
Dr. Blais admits he didn鈥檛 think of the paintings as being at all improvisational. 鈥淭hey seem so static. Well, not necessarily static, but not like Automatist painting, like Jackson Pollock or [Jean-Paul] Riopelle, who would gesturally throw [the paint on the canvas], where you can sense the improvisation.鈥�
Berggruen, 2008. Photo courtesy of AV俱乐部 Art Gallery. 漏 Pierre Dorion.
As an example, he points to Berggruen (2008), a large canvas with areas of muted goldenrod and rose interrupted by black bars: 鈥淟ook at those straight lines,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y feeling is not to see any improvisation there. I could be wrong, because how can we know [what the artist鈥檚 process was]?鈥� He adds that 鈥渋mprovisation might be part of seemingly static works but within the creative process rather than the final product.鈥�
鈥淸Music and painting] are very different,鈥� Dr. Blais muses. But after a moment, he says, 鈥淭he way we think about time in music isn鈥檛 so far from the way space is organized in a painting. In other words, proportions 鈥� the golden mean, in architecture, which is used by many composers to structure a piece.鈥�
鈥淥ne way or another, you find that type of proportion,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat this segment here [in Berggruen] occupies that much space, and this segment occupies [a proportion of] that.鈥�
Space considerations
Catherine Venart, though an architect, doesn鈥檛 bring up the golden mean. But she too considers many of Dorion鈥檚 paintings with a similar regard to perception of space. This makes sense, given her professional interests, including 鈥渉ow we perceive, understand and interact鈥� with our surroundings: 鈥淎rchitecture is an interface between the body and the larger environment acting to frame our understanding 鈥� and how the things in our environment enter into our personal realm.鈥�
As with Dr. Blais, Gates (The Pier) 鈥渞eally resonates with me,鈥� Prof. Venart says, adding that she created a work based on similar ideas, 鈥渁 study for a facade that started with documenting and then analyzing the relationship between a person鈥檚 movement 鈥� either this way,鈥� she says, facing the painting, 鈥渙r this way,鈥� she says, walking alongside it from a distance 鈥� "and distance and peripheral views, and how those views are structured, i.e., [through] vertical frame, blur and focus鈥︹��
Gate (The Piers), 2012. Photo courtesy of AV俱乐部 Art Gallery. 漏 Pierre Dorion.
Later, she observes that much of Dorion鈥檚 work relates to architecture because of that play, as it references 鈥渢he continual back and forth between the two-dimensionality of representational space in the plan and section drawings that stand in for 3-D space,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t's this flipping back and forth between the two that is so integral to the discipline of architecture.鈥� She adds that it is also this play 鈥� the pushing and pulling of space or our experience of it 鈥� that is a mark of many of the great architects.
And this seems integral to many of Dorion鈥檚 paintings. Even closer to the canvas, she notes the 鈥渙scillations of colours and lines鈥� that create a sense of depth due to the juxtapositions of pure colours.
Gates (or each segment of it) also reminds her of an exercise in her digital video class that she calls 鈥渁n eye-level section鈥�: 鈥淵ou take [something] out of its context and isolate it.鈥� At the same time, Prof. Venart acknowledges that the process personalizes 鈥渨hat is being looked at, creating an internal oscillation between what you see and what you know.鈥�
Berggruen also makes an impression on Prof. Venart. 鈥淚t feels like it should feel spacious,鈥� she says, as though there should be 鈥渟pace to stand on the other side of the railing. But it looks completely flat. The only way we get a sense of volume is from the [curved] rail and the light. He's really playing with the viewer, and our perceptions.鈥�
Looking over at Gate again, she says, 鈥淭he more I look at it, the more I appreciate it. It鈥檚 not just some [abstract], hyper-modernist thing. It鈥檚 really meant to be walked beside鈥� it changes so much.鈥�
Don鈥檛 miss your chance to see the work for yourself 鈥� the show runs till May 12 at the AV俱乐部 Art Gallery, Dal Arts Centre. Gallery hours are 11 till 5, closed Mondays.