Urban art, when practiced, must encourage passers-by to question themselves. The Quebec muralist Olivier Bonnard likes to cultivate mystery and always offers several degrees of reading to his works. And the mural he is doing at the intersection of Sherbrooke Street and Saint-Laurent Boulevard as part of the Mural festival which begins this week — of which he is also one of the artistic directors — is no exception. .
“The environment is important to me. What we do with our buildings too, ”he explains. For him, the way real estate is managed in Montreal is open to criticism. “We have certainly lost something to the benefit of these new homes that are devoid of character and not very inclusive,” he continues. I find it interesting that we interpret urban planning by bringing our sensitivity to it. »
The man who opened a plastics research workshop a few years ago has made it his mission to always integrate recycled materials in order to redefine painting as a medium. “The art of the fresco, with its political and social function, has existed for a long time. But this mentality has collapsed in favor of consumerism and narcissism. »
When he devotes himself to murals, Olivier Bonnard, who is part of the heritage of the Mexican painter Diego Rivera and the Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier, thinks differently in order to better extract himself from a universe that he thinks he has become superficial. “Seeing my name attached to a work counts for little. The mural is such a powerful art that it is essential, in my opinion, to experiment and to constantly question oneself. »
Founded in 2020, the clandestine collective Collages féministes Montréal also wants to take back public space through social and political commentaries created from black letters on white sheets and illegally posted across the city. “Not one more”, “the patriarchy is suffocating me”, “being able to abort without negotiating” or even “Joyce [Echaquan] we remember”: the subject is always linked to current events, however in counterpoint to what is said in the media. “We want visibility, voice and make the street our own. We manage to draw a common energy from our anger. Our actions only become more joyful, powerful and beautiful, underlines one of the members of the collective who wishes to preserve her anonymity. We quickly understood that the impact of our collages was immense and that they are, in fact, fundamental. »
If the origin of the collage, like that of the graffiti, is found in particular in the subversion of the anarchist, punk and anti-capitalist movements, the murals are for their part most often sponsored, and, consequently, authorized, consensual and watered down.
Share your values
However, the visual artist Moule seizes this opportunity to share his values with others. “The murals are an open-air museum that offers the possibility of awakening to art for free. I always try to add a wink and make it clear that I am a feminist, by representing, for example, hairy or fat women. »
We quickly understood that the impact of our collages was immense and that they are, in fact, fundamental
Because she has been insulted several times and has seen her murals vandalized, she knows that her art, however gentle and peaceful it may be, provokes and disturbs. “It’s crazy that showing a body in its normality is a militant act. It pushes me to persevere and it proves that our society needs change. The muralists must commit themselves so that the intimate becomes political”, specifies Moule.
The street, the night
She also believes that the lack of representations in the public space generates this type of virulent reaction. « I paint women and non-binary people through a different prism than the standards of beauty imposed on us everywhere. Representation is key,” she insists.
An objective that matches that of the collective Collages féministes Montréal, which says it had to overcome certain obstacles to appropriate the street during the night.
“The urban environment is monopolized by men. Women and minorities are only represented in a capitalist and objectified way, usually in advertisements. It took us some time to find the confidence to get started,” concludes one of its members.