Exhibition – Les Sculptures-jouets de Viatour-Berthiaume

Vernissage: Wednesday, March 4 / 5:30 p.m.

Sculptors Marianick Viatour and Gaétan Berthiaume studied Fine Arts at Concordia University. The couple shares a fascination for vintage articulated wooden toys. The artists enjoy taking their mechanisms — often very rudimentary — as a starting point, then modifying them, adding complexity, and incorporating them into their toy sculptures. They prefer to focus on the beauty of bare wood, often playing on the contrast between rough and smooth surfaces. Their toy sculptures result from a lengthy process of exploring the object’s kinetic qualities, the toy’s aesthetics, the balance of volumes and tints, and the beauty of wood. Each piece is then personalized through the addition of vibrant colour.

Over the past ten years, the songs, sayings, and writings of their contemporaries have become the creative forces that awaken their muse and feed their imaginings. Viatour-Berthiaume create unique works of art that have been inspired by Gilles Vigneault, by the grand circus tradition of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, by Michel Tremblay’s work, and by Fred Pellerin’s fantastical stories.

For some time now, they have been immersed in the poetic and dramatic world of Kim Thuy. The exhibition is due to open in 2016.

Photos

Photo: Gaétan Berthiaume et Pierre Guzzo