On the walls of the Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée, the radiant motifs of the abstract canvases painted by the multidisciplinary artists Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux and Carl-Philippe Simonise collide and dialogue. According to the first, The Secret Language of the Universe was designed as an honest conversation, in which anyone can easily enter.
“Beyond logic, it’s organic and natural,” says Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux. We can observe in the exhibition an extension of our beings. With his accomplice he met ten years ago, he wanted, among other things, that the public could immerse themselves immediately and randomly in the works of one and the other. “There is also the enthusiasm of finding oneself in a colorful room with authentic testaments of being,” he adds.
James Oscar, curator behind the exhibition and friend of the pair, goes even further. “It’s an affective environment, where abstraction is overcome by radical gestures. Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux thus salutes the presence of the latter as an essential intermediary, capable of articulating the artistic discussions between him and Carl-Philippe Simonise with the outside world. And, as a result, to create a language. “James allowed us to see that what was happening in our intimate space was important for the collective. Today I am delighted that The Secret Language of the Universe thrill other people,” he says.
From self to universal
So what is this exhibition about? “We had things to say and we wanted to express our way of approaching life. Our friendship, our research and our work is based on what it means to live and to support life. To understand what it evokes, too,” explains Carl-Philippe Simonise.
Faced with the overall lack of vitality of our society, the artist wishes to arouse an emotion in the viewer. Whether violent or soothing, it doesn’t matter as long as you feel something. “It’s not necessarily just one thing. It can also be complex and as unique as we are,” he points out.
For him, the exhibition and, more broadly, the creative approach are a way of transforming the wounds and the experience into an enjoyment that looks like a celebration. “Each painting is a self-portrait in which I force myself to embellish myself while imbuing myself with my wounds,” he continues. And Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux confides: “The idea of ’who am I’ is very important in my work. I ask myself this question since I was five years old and every time I am in front of the white canvas. »
Because he is convinced that art has a certain healing power, Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux seeks to comfort the community that enters the exhibition. “Painting leaves me space to live in a fluidity that can sometimes seem magical. It’s a bit like that too The Secret Language of the Universe », he points out. According to the artist, it is the vagueness of life, with its bizarre messages and difficult situations, that allows us to accept and validate the human experience in all its nuances, without having to lock it up. in a box or in a narrative context. “Atmosphere is of particular interest to me in the context of my practice. The shimmering draperies that he made and which hang from the ceiling of the Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée, he describes as comforting architectural interventions.
Actors of the time
“We have the right to enter a room and be invaded, absorbed and feel good without having to understand everything and justify ourselves,” adds James Oscar. He believes in this regard that the aesthetic judgment that has guided the art world until now is behind us. “Today, in my opinion, art is a place of atmosphere, and artists do not need to be instrumentalized to work. They do what they want to do”, describes the commissioner. By being contemporary free spirits, Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux and Carl-Philippe Simonise participate in this way in the zeitgeist that exists in Montreal right now. “They are brave enough to take a stand and commit to their vision of a new production of culture and knowledge,” he concludes.
For his part, Clovis-Alexandre Desvarieux insists on the fact that art should no longer be part of a single elitist and intellectual approach, just as abstraction is not only a matter of formalism. He wishes that The Secret Language of the Universe be accessible to all. “It gives me great pleasure that many children see the exhibition,” he confides.