In the studio of… Dominique Blain | From Quebec… to the Château de Chambord

Sensitive artist and dedicated to human rights for nearly 40 years, Dominique Blain still creates with determination, in his workshop on rue Sainte-Famille. Press There, he discovered the models of its scenographies and, first of all, the details of the prestigious exhibition that it is opening this Sunday at the Château de Chambord, in France.

Eric Clement
Press

Robert skinner
Press

Chambord’s gift

She is radiant, Dominique Blain, at 64 years old. Having gained notoriety very early on, in her twenties, she continues to shine abroad, as very few Quebec artists have the opportunity. Its universal language has something to do with it. After the success of Travel, his exhibition on the theme of the protection of works of art during the Second World War, presented at the Canadian Cultural Center in Paris, in 2019, he was offered to mount an adaptation at the Château de Chambord, which had hosted works in the Louvre during the Nazi occupation.

In her studio, archival images of the moving of the paintings, which she will show in Chambord until March 13, are hung on the wall. Images that come in particular from a French magazine from 1939. “It was like opening a box of treasures,” she says. We see The wedding feast of Cana, painted by Véronèse in 1563, or the immense Raft of the Medusa, by Géricault, transferred to the Palace of Versailles in 1939 and so large that it touched the wires of the tram! ”

The artist also presents – in a rather cold area of ​​the castle – his work Drifts, which evokes migrants fighting for their survival in the Mediterranean. Why ? “Because I wonder why we put so much energy into saving works of art and so little to save human beings? »The exhibition in Chambord on the protection of heritage is wonderful. The castle, built in 1520, has received a makeover in recent years. “I would like that Travel can also be found in Spain and Italy, ”says Dominique Blain, attached to this castle where, she adds,“ the works dialogue not only with architecture, but also with history. Monuments II literally ends up in a monument! “.

Consult the information on the expo in Chambord Consult the information on the Canadian Cultural Center

The workshop

Dominique Blain designs her works in the apartment she rented when she was 19 years old. “It became my studio,” she says. Sometimes I sleep there! When I was young it was a slum! The studio is like an intellectual apartment, submerged in documents, books, magazines, paper dailies, works, posters and models. It is not a mess. We can feel the effervescence of reflections, quest for meaning.

The artist shows archive photos of women and children published in The Globe & Mail, The world, The duty Where Press on conflicts all over the world. Striking photos that she keeps and uses so that they are not forgotten. “The images, more and more virtual, more and more abundant, disappear very quickly in a cloud,” she says. I try to bring them back to life. Because, unfortunately, all the works that I have produced are still relevant today. Whether it’s landmines, colonialism or slavery which is still very widespread. ”

Scenographer

Dominique Blain started doing scenography in 2016 with the opera The Trials of Patricia Isasa, created by the company Chants Libres. “A creation about an Argentina imprisoned, tortured and raped at the age of 16, in 1976, by the military junta,” she said. Pauline Vaillancourt had called on me. One of the most rewarding experiences of my career. Patricia Isasa had come to see the opera in Montreal. I still have shivers. ”

This teamwork, her interest in striking subjects and creation in large spaces encouraged her to accept another challenge with Pauline Vaillancourt, namely the scenography of the lyrical version of the novel. Orange grove, by Larry Tremblay, on childhood and war. Dominique Blain designed it for the staging presented last month at the Monument-National and in early November at the Diamant in Quebec. “A very beautiful chemistry between Pauline, Larry and the composer and visual artist Zad Moultaka whom I had known in 2017 at the Venice Biennale, where he represented Lebanon with a very strong work”, she says.

Projects

Dominique Blain will broadcast his video work in January Drifts, on eight screens, at the Ryerson Image Center in Toronto, then at the Bentley Gallery, which represents her in Phoenix, Arizona, where she will exhibit new works that she is developing. Works always linked to his interest in colonialism and human rights issues. Critical and disturbing works that find audiences abroad. “It’s not easy to live with my works,” she says. But I have already sold a work to an oil company! I found it quite funny! ”

Dominique Blain is delighted with the interest that his artistic gaze arouses abroad. Its installation Monuments II, of the corpus Travel, is now part of the collection of the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nice (MAMAC). “Thanks to Isabelle Hudon, the former Canadian ambassador to France, who took the initiative,” says the artist. The work will thus be able to travel, in particular I hope, to Italy. And I learned that Travel will be mentioned in the third volume of the book The Museum, a global history, by the great historian Krzysztof Pomian, published by Gallimard. I feel like I won an Oscar! ”

Check out the Toronto exhibition info Check out the MAMAC collection info

Photo gallery

Here are some of the artist’s other works