“For me, whether it is art is secondary. These are things I do. » This statement from Alexandre David, made during an interview given the same week where three openings highlighted his “things”, sums up the prosaic side of his personality and his works. The artist, because that is what he is, and professor at the School of Art at Laval University does not seek to impress.
“I don’t like that art is seen as an exception. The experience [de l’art] can be “wow!”, but also an ordinary thing, like using a chair. We turn the corner of a street like we turn the corner of a [de mes] facility[s]. »
Yet here he is celebrated (a word undoubtedly too strong in his eyes) by three simultaneous exhibitions, one in Montreal and two in Quebec. Or more precisely by a retrospective in three places, each with a unique wooden work, in situ and ephemeral — its signature for three decades.
Led by Laurent Vernet, director of the Galerie de l’Université de Montréal (UdeM), the retrospective is entitled From one place to another and is available in The place (at UdeM), The slopes (at the Visual Arts Gallery of Laval University) and The front (at Criterium, a design firm in the Saint-Roch district, in Quebec).
The event is something phenomenal in that the act of re-showing one of his works is mission impossible. The materials of its platforms, squares, wall objects or whatever the name of its installations is always the same. Once an exhibition is over, Alexandre David dismantles its structure and stores its wood (and the plywood and screws), waiting for the next opportunity to create a project.
A joke is at the origin of the retrospective. The art historian Marie Fraser, one of the first to invite the artist to take over an open-air venue (in 2002, during the collective exhibition The residence), would have said to him one day: “We will never be able to do a retrospective of your work, they are just ephemeral things. »
“The retrospective dimension doesn’t interest me,” says the man who, at 60, is more driven by “the idea of making projects.” And ideas, on paper and in his head, he has thousands. He has always been drawing, since childhood, and each of his installations is first and foremost a drawing.
“Laurent [Vernet] wanted a retrospective section. It’s his business,” says Alexandre David, who left the commissioner of From one place to another rummage through “dozens of boxes”. Plans and visual documentation of twenty-three projects carried out since 1990 are exhibited in addition to the new works.
“I think while drawing. I spend a hundred times more time drawing than building. I build because I have to, so that things take shape,” continues the Montreal artist, who nevertheless recognizes that the retrospective served to sort through his belongings and unearth forgotten ideas. “It’s ironic,” he says. It’s meant to be a retrospective look and cleaning allows me to bounce back. I have another ten years of things ahead of me. »
For all uses
Unusual by its temporal and geographical scale, From one place to another could have been a museum exhibit. But which museum in Quebec would have accepted the challenge? If Alexandre David has already benefited from the attention of such establishments (the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal in 2002; the MAC LAU, in Saint-Jérôme, in 2017), it should be noted that smaller presenters are today demonstrating more initiative when it comes to saluting established and complex careers like his.
Falsely minimalist, at the crossroads of sculpture, design and architecture, Alexandre David’s installations mix sensual and intellectual, solitary and social, contemplative and functional experiences. Each one is unique, linked to the place that hosts it, but based on the same indeterminate nature.
The platform at UdeM is impressive with its height and inclination. The ends of the two slopes that make up the one at Laval University converge towards a low center. The project at Criterium is distinguished by its verticality, its tiered space and the strong presence of the frame that supports it. Each time, we can walk on it, sit on it, daydream… And the space not occupied by “the thing” imagined by the artist counts as much as the rest, like a funnel passage through the gallery university in Quebec.
The retrospective elements vary. At UdeM, the overview is sufficiently documented to reveal the consistency of the David signature. At Criterium, the more intimate return in time is contained in a box of index cards. At Laval University, three images recall the exploratory past of photography to which the artist devoted himself. Displayed facing the street, however, they are difficult to perceive.
“All uses are equal,” says Alexandre David about his installations. That means you can do anything. I set my things up so people can [y] do different things at the same time [activités]. It creates an experience of equality, a democratic experience. You understand that there are other worlds which are sovereign, [où les gens] do what they want. I like this equality, almost indifferent to individuals. »
From one place to another is accompanied by a pamphlet. The major publication on Alexandre David — “the only space to date where we [pouvait] experience discovering several [de ses] projects”, according to Laurent Vernet — date from 2016 (a co-edition of Expression and Plein sud). It remains essential, although now outdated.
Our collaborator stayed in Quebec at the invitation of the Galerie de l’Université de Montréal.