Must see for someone visiting Quebec

The Artist in Quebec

The Artist in Quebec

Canadian born Diane Landry is so talented and creative that it is impossible to find the correct label for her installations which are more than sculptures; they transcend the usual parameters when considering works of art. Her media mix is awesome – requiring her to be an electrician, engineer, painter, sculptor, performer as well as a strategic planner, fund raiser and grant writer. Because her innovative โ€œartโ€ is so unique she is frequently interviewed, invited to lecture at workshops and seminars, and to โ€œperformโ€ as part of the installation. So โ€“ in addition to her artist talents she is required to be personable, articulate, charming, and attractive; with all of these attributes, she is unassuming about her talents and considers her incredible success to be unremarkable.

Mouvelles

Landry describes many of her works as mouvelles which are combinations of nouvelles โ€“ novel/new and mouve /movement โ€“ and help us to define her unique works of art. Mouvelles evolve from everyday objects to become something more: sculptures, performances, sounds, installations, engineered piecesโ€ฆ all interconnected โ€“ as long as we move away from our fixed position as a voyeur and are willing to move near her space and become a participant.

Landryโ€™sโ€™ works force us to see the splendor and uniqueness of everyday objects that we use and throw away. From her artistic perspective plastic water bottles, umbrellas, even washing machines take on an aesthetic quality that delivers a wallop of an OMG moment. She transforms record turntables into merry-go-rounds, transforms umbrellas into flowers and house keys into bell sets. Her work demands our total attention and refuses to let us be just a voyeur; when we are finally engaged, we are pushed further and forced into suspending all pre-conceived notions of what is art!

Works and Working

Born in 1958 in Cap-de-la-Madeline, Quebec (now Trois Rivieres), Landry started on an agricultural career path and, after recognizing that her passion was not for earth science but for art, she returned to school receiving her Bachelorโ€™s Degree in Fine Arts from Laval University in Quebec City. She continued her studies at the University de Bordeaux III (France) and then obtained her Masters of Fine Arts from Stanford University (California) in 2006. She has studied metallurgy and welding techniques, cartooning, Dreamweaver, and video editing and participated in research projects that included experiments in music, media art and science – organized by Continuum and Subtle Technologies in Toronto (2013). Landry has also worked as artist-in-residence in New York City, Montrรฉal, The Banff Centre (Alberta), Buenos Aires (Argentina), Marseille (France) and Utica (NY).

Her 12-page resume demonstrates that she is an artist that has been internationally embraced and recognized as an original and a โ€œone and only.โ€ Her work has been shown throughout Canada and the USA as well as in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Cuba, Denmark, France, Sweden, Germany, Poland, the PRC, UK, The Netherlands, South Korea and Turkey.

Following an old adage that form follows function, Landry starts with what is visible and knowable and then transforms these objects into something that is unknown and may even be enigmatic. Her works are transformed through the integration of light and sound, motion and inertia, music and silence, color and non-color, lethargy counter-positioned with speed, and emptiness and abandoned spaces are mixed with chaos and clutter. Through her exploration of space and time she frolics, trips, dances, reviews, explores and twists what she sees (and what she thinks she sees) into experiences that to the viewer become shocking and exciting and even reminiscent of previous lives and experiences.

Landry does not allow the viewer to relax or get comfortable with her work. Looking at her installations and explorations of time and space is not an exercise in gazing โ€“ rather it is like getting ready for an exploration of what was known but is really unknown.

A Landry Experience

When a Landry exhibition is available in a gallery, university of museum, or you are rushing through an airport and spot one of her installations, it is imperative that you stop, put down all the packages and, after a few calming and cleansing breaths, experience a Landry. Landry maintains a studio in Quebec where some of her installations can be viewed (by appointment only).

Steven Matijcio, Curator, Lois and Richard Rosenthal Contemporary Art Center, Ohio has said of Landry, โ€œIt offers an oasis in times of an accelerate, attention-deficit society; a gift of pause when everything else pushes us faster; a rare and much-needed space to slow down, meander and reflect. Her work is both meditative and magical, and rewards an audience for investing their time and energy โ€“ the more you spend, the more it gives back.โ€

Works include: Recumbent from Scotland (1992), Duraclear, transparent acrylic, steel, halogen lighting; The Snow-Table (1996), Womenโ€™s blouses, skates, skis, wood, steel, vitrified acrylic, motors, motion sensor with electronic time switch, incandescent light; Madonnas (2008), Washing machines, photographs cold-mounted on acrylic, mirrors, fluorescent lighting, motion sensor with electronic time switch. For additional information, click here.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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