Patrick Coutu at the Blouin Division Gallery | Art that captures the spirit of the times

Patrick Coutu is back in force to exhibit his latest creations at Blouin Division. An artist at the top of his game with diverse works on the theme of the environment, marine photographs, paintings on paper and various sculptures. A stunning range accompanied, in the gallery, by a sumptuous exhibition by Myriam Dion. Quite a deployment in Griffintown!

Patrick Coutu’s last solo work in the Arsenal building dates back to 2015. The 47-year-old Montreal artist had exhibited his reefs resulting from his passion for mathematics and for the geological phenomena of sedimentation and crystallization. In recent years, he has continued his representation of life, abandoning maths, but always devoting himself to the mineral universe.

He thus photographed seascapes of the Gulf of St. Lawrence or even worked, on the ground, large sections of crumpled paper on which he allowed pigments to flow. A way of speaking, because the process is much tougher than it seems!

These almost sculptural works that result from it, Meanders, have an aspect of sedimentary rock or geological relief, with lakes, streams and canyons. An effect reminiscent of previous work by Patrick Coutu. For other works, the horizontal work is repeated on fabric and is accompanied by a chemical reaction which creates cellular spots of the most beautiful effect, as in the work solis. Or generates a physical reaction when the artist combines iron oxide and magnets, for example in Traction.

The most spectacular part of the exhibition, however, is the arrangement of six sculptures on high pedestals and under soft, museum-caliber lighting. Sculptures made up of an assembly of plastic objects – we recognize a tube of silicone and a bottle of shampoo! – which have been sprayed with a mixture of gypsum cement, silica, minerals and glazes. “Anthropocene corals”, says the artist.

The sculptures indeed look like coral shaped by oceanic nature. They seem alive, still caressed by the sea currents. By observing them closely, we discern streaks of growth like those of madreporaria. And colored droplets, as if petrified in the direction of the sea flow. From a distance, the sculptures look romantic, like Furyinspired by furious roland (1867), by Jean Bernard Duseigneur, exhibited at the Louvre. Others refer to the Victory of Samothracethe Raft of the Medusa or the ugly beast Alien by Hans Ruedi Giger!

Unlike Damian Hirst, with his immense and outrageous “maritime” sculptures presented at the Venice Biennale in 2017, there is no Disney effect in the sculptures of Patrick Coutu, who favors delicacy over bling-bling. We are not talking about a rosy fiction like with Hirst, we are talking about the pollution of the seas and waterways, poorly organized recycling, current concerns that are insufficiently shared and taken into account. An art that captures the spirit of the times.

Patrick Coutu also paid tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959) with a sculpture-fountain, frank fountain, made up of porcelain elements with a neo-Mayan style motif like those of the American architect. From small cubes filled with moss, water flows gently to a reservoir that surrounds the base of the work. A technical challenge and a concept about the force of nature prevailing over human pride. A Tower of Babel fantasy. A tropical work, a little wobbly, like our world, in which we recognize a statuesque robot. That says it all! Once again, thoughtful, methodical and evocative language, the signature of Patrick Coutu.

The gallery also presents in its back room a dazzling exhibition of Myriam Dion, Gardens. Renowned for her delicate and narrative paper-cut creations, the 33-year-old artist is also returning with nature-themed works, including a series featuring painted and drawn Japanese paper weaving and cutting. You have to admire, up close, the quality of this painstaking work. Fabulous !

Patrick Coutu and Myriam Dion at the Blouin Division gallery, until January 7.