Gilbert Poissant

L’objet et le territoire

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

A two-part exhibition at Expression and Plein sud

November 12, 2016 to January 28, 2017

Guest curator Mona Hakim invites us to Gilbert Poissant’s imposing and polymorphic artistic output, spanning four decades.

Plein sud, centre d’exposition en art actuel à Longueuil, and EXPRESSION, Centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe are pleased to invite you the opening of the two-part exhibition by Gilbert Poissant, L’objet et le territoire.

Exhibition dates

At Plein sud
From November 12, 2016 to January 28, 2017
(closed from December 19 to January 6 inclusively)

At EXPRESSION
From November 12, 2016 to January 29, 2017
(closed from December 24 to January 9 inclusively)

Guest curator: Mona Hakim

Vernissage and launch

Vernissage at Plein sud at 1 pm (Longueuil)
Vernissage at EXPRESSION at 3 pm (Saint-Hyacinthe)
Guided tour with Mona Hakim and Gilbert Poissant at EXPRESSION at 3:30 pm.

Book launch: Gilbert Poissant, a 276 pages monograph, published by éditions Plein sud, including texts by Pascale Beaudet, Amy Gogarty and Mona Hakim.

Refreshments will be served at EXPRESSION.
Plein sud and EXPRESSION wish to express warm thanks to Première Moisson.


Shuttle

On Saturday, November 9, a Montréal-Longueuil-St-Hyacinthe full shuttle service will be available free of charge by reservation at 450 679-2966 or by writing at plein-sud@plein-sud.org.

Berri-Uqam metro station, Berri/De Maisonneuve

HORAIRE
Départ du métro Berri-Uqam vers Plein sud à Longueuil : 12 h 30
Départ de Plein sud vers EXPRESSION à Saint-Hyacinthe : 14 h
Retour vers Montréal au métro Berri-Uqam à partir d’EXPRESSION à Saint-Hyacinthe : 17 h


© Gilbert Poissant
Variations sur cartes postales 01, 2014, collage, 14,5 x 10,5 cm

L’objet et le territoire

Spanning four decades, Gilbert Poissant’s artistic output is imposing and polymorphic. Trained as a ceramicist, sculptor and muralist, Poissant draws his inspiration from the fields of design and architecture, acutely exploring the issues raised by the hybridization of artistic disciplines.

The two-part exhibition L’objet et le territoire takes stock of the diverse modes of expression that Poissant has developed around both his ceramics practice and his astonishing personal collection of everyday objects, brought together here in La collection, a major work begun in 2005. Using disciplined methods stemming from a selfdesigned system of categorization, Poissant transforms, reinterprets, and renews these objects through repeated gestures and rituals. Time here takes on great importance; the stretched-out, slow and methodical kind of time engendered by the repeated gesture,
not unlike the time of the skilful artist/craftsperson.

At Plein sud, Gilbert Poissant reinterprets territory, a concept at the heart of his practice, through the use of topographic maps of his home region and memories of certain legends from childhood. In his graphic interventions, he employs cut-up and collage techniques, proposing a new history of territory, a sort of atlas of the imaginary. Icons taken from different periods of his career infiltrate semi-fictional mappings that not only depict his own world, but also form an architectonic evocation of physical, social and cultural phenomena within an exhilarating space of belonging.

At EXPRESSION, Poissant probes the perceptual and interactive possibilities inherent to the language of objects, proposing numerous iterations of the system stemming from Le jeu du collectionneur, including collages, inkjet prints, porcelain murals, object installations, scale models and boxes. Objects and icons are here reduced to their essential forms, where they become a sort of alphabet, a vast catalogue of visual and lexical signs that transform sculptural and architecturalized space into a place of open and dynamic dialogue.

Gilbert Poissant’s vocabulary recounts a lifetime’s worth of accumulation, his own lifetime’s, and brings together fragments of the history of the world, our world.

Mona Hakim
Guest curator


www.gilbertpoissant.com
www.plein-sud.com
www.expression.qc.ca


Gilbert Poissant is grateful for the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

Opening hours, Route and additional information available on the Facebook page