In the studio of… Morgan Légaré | One artist, three passions

Introduced very early to the pleasure of assembling and scaffolding, Morgan Légaré is a kind of beaver awakened to art. A contemporary artist, artistic director and set designer, he has succeeded, at the age of 24, in carving out a place for himself in a cultural environment that he has tamed with his aesthetic, immersive and industrial outlook. We encountered this phenomenon in his Montreal studio.

The builder

Born in Trois-Rivières, Morgan Légaré was 11 years old when he started helping his father with construction projects. A universe that has shaped its future. “My father taught me and helped me a lot,” he says. I have always been manual. I was going to teach when I discovered the visual arts at CEGEP. »

Then he only stayed a year at Concordia. He had the impression of redoing what he had learned at Cégep de Trois-Rivières with his teachers Frédéric Cordier and Jérémie Deschamps Bussières. “I left the baccalaureate to go to Underground Art for two and a half years as an exhibition designer-designer, says the 24-year-old artist. At the same time, I did a residency at the Laroche-Joncas gallery. I presented my first show, Automation & Controlin 2020.” A successful exhibition since collectors Pierre and Anne-Marie Trahan bought three works from him.

Multidisciplinary, Morgan Légaré does artistic direction, set design and interior design for film locations and exhibitions. This year, he founded Bon Matin Studio, with artists Samuel Graveline and Laurent Le Bel-Roux. “I worked for foundations, galleries, art centers, for example for Elektra and the Guido Molinari Foundation, for the assembly of exhibitions”, he says.

His more specific approach as a contemporary artist is first done on the computer. Then he prints his works or assembles them.

A born beaver, Morgan Légaré is also a strange sparrow! Very 2022. Without embarrassment or constraint. Open to everything, free in her head, assuming her masculine and feminine sides.

A way of life embodied in a series of very personal photos taken last spring with photographer Camille Tellier and stylist Mélanie Brisson, with artistic direction by Jeanne Joly.

fish eye

Morgan Légaré presents, until December 4, Extraction, an architectural installation, at L’Œil de Poisson, a venerable artist-run center in Quebec City. An exhibition curated by Jean-Michel Quirion, co-director of the Center Clark. The corpus is made up of a metal structure created on a computer and then produced physically. He added glued fabrics and abstract prints. “My mother came to help me clean 230 metal bars for the exhibition! he says.

Extraction is an assembly of aluminum profiles and phantom bodies grafted onto it.

The exhibition is a natural continuation of his solo at Laroche-Joncas. The 15 ft high installation is a scale model of a construction site with the addition of textile fibers molded onto the structure, ephemeral ghosts signifying both a presence and an absence.

The workshop

Morgan Légaré has set up a very pleasant studio in his studio on rue Fullum, which he has recently occupied. Large space, bay window, kitchenette, storage lockers and small comfortable living room to relax to the sound of kind of blue, by Miles Davis. A zen place to receive gallery owners, curators and collectors, a necessity for this artist in search of recognition. “I created a warm decor, because I like welcoming people,” he says.

The workshop is his place of artistic conception. His computer seems very small on the large work table. He alternates digital tests and their declination on supports from the drawing.

The place is also a place of exhibition of his works, on the walls and on the ground. Recent works, images of installations and his first sculptures in wood and steel.

Projects

Recently, Morgan Légaré reappropriated the use of wood for new inkjet prints, with three-dimensional rendering. The image of aluminum bars on recycled birch. A sequel toExtraction, with the grain of the wood that blends with the metallic geometry. He also likes to switch from digital work to dry pastel work, organizing his approach on several fronts.

Given his attraction for installations, Morgan Légaré is also interested in public art and will apply for competitions. “I also know that I’m going to apply for a master’s degree at Concordia,” he says. And do it this time diligently! »

Some works