It was the 7 fingers who had the delicate mission of putting an end to the year of celebrations aimed at marking the 100the birth anniversary of Jean Paul Riopelle. The company accomplishes its task brilliantly by creating a captivating circus show where bodies and technology serve beauty.
Orchestrated by director Samuel Tétreault, Life-size Riopelle offers an incursion into the life, but especially into the work of the Quebec painter. To do this, the circus troupe opened the doors of its studios on Saint-Laurent Boulevard. The show is installed in one of the rooms, where each wall has been transformed into a large projection screen.
For 80 minutes, the audience, seated on either side of the stage, finds itself surrounded by Riopelle’s fiery and vibrant works. They appear whole or fragmented, multiplied or scrutinized so closely that we can make out each brushstroke of the artist, the relief thus created by the painting on the canvas being similar to that of a snowy landscape. Images that recall the abundance of work by Riopelle, who signed more than 7,000 pieces during his life.
Of great poetry
On the stage, but especially above it, five acrobats add the grace of their movements to the beauty of the paintings. The aerial numbers are of great poetry. Here, we do not aim to impress with physical feats of brilliance that defy gravity, but rather to add a very moving impressionistic layer to the whole.
In this regard, Guillaume Paquin’s dance number is particularly successful. Equipped with movement sensors hidden under his costume, he launches into an exalted dance which is simultaneously transposed into dozens of colorful brushstrokes on the giant screens. Each evening, it is said, the work and the dance will be different. But, we assume, it will be spectacular each time, both on stage and on the canvas.
Moreover, it often happens in this show that we lack eyes to see everything, our gaze is so solicited between the grandiose pieces of Riopelle and the graceful movements of the artists of flesh and blood. The balance numbers, rotating mast or smooth rope are always in perfect harmony with the works projected at 360 degrees.
No doubt, Samuel Tétreault, himself the son of a gallery owner, knows the painter’s extensive repertoire very well…
PHOTO JF SAVARIA, PROVIDED BY LES 7 DIGITS
A smooth rope number is added to the series of string games paintings painted by Riopelle.
Small downside
If, however, there is a downside to this visually perfect show, it is the text by Marie-Christine Lê-Huu. The dramaturgical formula chosen by the latter remains quite redundant. Also, rather than evoking the nature that inspired the painter, the narrative remains quite biographical and chronological. To tell the truth, we could have done without dates, places and names to plunge with open hearts into Riopelle’s universe, its radiant colors and the landscapes that served as his muses.
After an entire year celebrating Riopelle’s work and life (notably with the biographical piece by Robert Lepage presented at Duceppe and at Le Diamant), it would have been nice and good to do without the facts and keep only the raw emotion . The one that animated Jean Paul Riopelle being, after all, cut from the same wood.
Please note: a multimedia exhibition is also offered in the 7 Fingers studios for the duration of the event. It will be possible to admire around twenty original pieces by Riopelle on site, but also to discover immersive 360-degree projections or to create digital works inspired by the painter’s large mosaics using an interactive infrared system.
Visit the show page
Life-size Riopelle
Creation of 7 Fingers, directed by Samuel Tétreault.
7 Fingers StudiosUntil March 10