Riopelle in Ottawa | Artistic crossroads

The year marking 100^e Jean Paul Riopelle’s birthday ends with this major retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada which presents the evolution of his work, over five decades of creation. A magnificent history of art.

There are his works that we all recognize. Abstract mosaics and paintings made with a palette knife have become Riopelle’s signature. A part of his work is still little-known, such as his collages made with rejected prints that he recycled – including a magnificent piece from 1967, which echoes the pop art movement, and which is presented in Ottawa. As surprising as it may be, some pieces are on display for the first time.

Riopelle, at the crossroads of times therefore brings together both key works and a lesser-known practice through the artist’s creative cycles. From his automatist period in the 1940s, and even some early works, to the appearance of geese in the 1980s, and his work with the aerosol can, which we also know very well.

The retrospective being presented chronologically, we follow the history of the world and the life of Riopelle who stopped his work around ten years before his death, in 2002.

This retro goes further, because it also invites other artists.

First, artists that Jean Paul Riopelle knew – including Roseline Granet who made a life-size sculpture of him. Thus, it is Riopelle who welcomes visitors to the Ottawa museum. Good game. We will also come across creations by his friends Sam Francis and Alberto Giacometti, in particular, as well as his partner Joan Mitchell. They support or highlight what Riopelle was doing at the same time or on the same theme.

We appreciate this triptych by Françoise Sullivan produced in 2021 which faces a triptych that Riopelle created more than 50 years before, in 1967. The two artists, born the same year, in 1923, co-signed Overall refusalwhich has been much talked about this year which marks its 75th^e birthday. It’s moving to find them in this precious temporal and artistic crossover, which ultimately becomes timeless.

Rich links

The most ingenious inclusion of this exhibition undoubtedly remains these works by artists whose work was influenced by that of Riopelle. Near or far.

Very quickly, at the very beginning of the retrospective, we see the magnificent Displaced Landscapes II, by Iranian artist Aïda Vosoughi, who now lives in Montreal. His mobile wants to echo the watercolor inks that Riopelle made in the 1950s.

An undeniable and striking link, the imposing collage of hockey cards created by Marc-Antoine K. Phaneuf in 2013. If the artist admits to having initially made it as a pastiche of the shape of a Riopelle from the 1950s, he is a wonderful tribute. Another brilliant crossover – we would like to believe that the source of inspiration would have been amused by this “pastiche”.

Further on, a skeleton made of pieces of plastic chairs by Canadian artist Brian Jungen faces pieces from 1973 where Riopelle uses wooden logs. In both cases, the works are inspired by the legend of the people of Thule.

This dialogue provoked between Riopelle and other artists brings dynamism to a scenography that is otherwise conventional and without much inventiveness on the part of our national institution.

We did not expect that the Ottawa museum would invite Robert Lepage to stage the exhibition, he who paid a beautiful tribute to the great master earlier this year with his Riopelle Project – or maybe yes, it would have been a great idea.

That being said, we do not blame the guest curator, Sylvie Lacerte, who did an extraordinary job. His research to choose each of the pieces for the retrospective spanned three years.

The structure stands perfectly and allows the visitor to fully experience the progression of Riopelle’s art. Everyone can interpret it as they wish and you must take the time to do so if you want to enjoy this rare collection of works by the superior trapper.

For example, the 1970s, a super important period – they all are! Riopelle began to paint in oil again after a period of prints, sculptures and collages and he broke away from his colorful works before and after, particularly with his Icebergsfabulous paintings mostly made in 1977.

“The 1970s were the years when he made his trips to the Far North,” explains Sylvie Lacerte, “where everything was white and you couldn’t necessarily see the horizon. » Memorable trips for Riopelle, specifies the curator.

It is in this space that we also find the piece by the multidisciplinary artist Caroline Monnet who works a lot with construction materials. This is the case here since its Future left behind is made of Tyvek sheets and represents a northern village, from a bird’s eye view. On a formal level, it blends with the Icebergs of Riopelle and forms a dialogue on the northern landscape.

Caroline Monnet, Riopelle and indigenous peoples

Caroline Monnet has great admiration for Riopelle, “the most colorful and creative artist” of her childhood. The text she signs in the catalog which accompanies the exhibition nevertheless raises questions about the representation he made of indigenous peoples and northern territories. “I wanted to take a more critical, more current and more sociological look,” confides Caroline Monnet, in an interview. “Riopelle had meetings [lors de ses voyages dans le Nord], but these meetings were not brought to light. It was he who gained notoriety from these experiences and these inspirations that he sought from others. » At that time, indigenous artists were themselves completely excluded from the art market, she explains. The multidisciplinary artist of Anishinaabe and French origins notes in passing that there is no one in Riopelle’s representations, which perpetuates this image of an uninhabited land. In doing so, could this have contributed to maintaining a distorted representation of indigenous people in Europe, where Riopelle’s works were exhibited and sold? The question is raised.