Extraction
l’Œil de Poisson, Québec (CAN)
Oct-Dec 2022
[EN]
Through his most recent works, Morgan Legaré explores the bilateral mechanisms between automation and control.
A true specialization within industrial control, automation is a process aimed at increasing profitability, as well as ensuring both the quantity — and quality — of production through advanced technologies. Based on the inner workings of these technical systems, the artist deliberately works in a counterproductive manner using 3D exploration software, in order to challenge practices that have been dehumanized by automation.
The bi-three-dimensional experiments of the Extraction corpus integrate precisely with the architectural components of the white cube at L’Œil de Poisson.
Curated by Jean-Michel Quirion, this first exhibition in an artist-run center for Morgan Legaré is conceived as a series of micro-construction sites. Through interventions of imposing fragility, built with extruded aluminum profiles, the artist reshapes the space. A central structure rises in the middle of the gallery, acting as a portal into interconnected interstices: from interior to exterior, from unstable to solid, from imperceptible to visible. Through illusionistic imagery, material stimuli in textiles, and out-of-the-norm structure-devices — shapeshifting decoys of sorts — Legaré playfully diverts the perception of this vernacular space within Méduse. Forms and functions are set in tension.
Assemblages and fiber castings, made in situ during the installation period at L’Œil, are scattered across aluminum supports and the concrete floor.
Textile reliefs with polymorphic textures are fixed into negatives. The reverse sides are displayed. The subtle imprints of metallurgical profiles are revealed in a permeable composite. The material, of precarious stability, both rises and collapses.
Moreover, in parallel to these propositions, Legaré presents the Extraction images.
Digitally crafted from molds made directly on the supports and from preparatory 3D models, these images generate their own variations in spatialization and reveal liminal interstices. They can be seen as recursive mises en abyme. The visual extractions are arranged in the gallery like windows into a virtually reproduced Œil de Poisson. The piece Consonances intemporelles (2022), placed on a tilted partition in a corner, is particularly captivating. The pixelated reflections — a kind of distortion resulting from the image rendering process — give the impression of a malfunctioning screen.
This installation skillfully replays the circulation of space, and notably that of contemplation.
Visitors are captivated by the material diversions made tangible. The artworks stem from slow processes and techniques that are stubbornly ambitious, laborious, and moreover, sparing. The methods of production — arising from expertise and deliberate, manual gestures — are not automated, but controlled by Morgan Legaré himself, and they stand out. The works are thus extracted from the productivist logic that has become the cornerstone of industrialization. This corpus deconstructs — or rather de-reconstructs — the notions of conditioning and optimization. These notions are inherent to what is crafted both by the artist’s hand in the studio and on his screen.
Text: Jean-Michel Quirion
Photo credits: Charles Frédérick Ouellet
Through his most recent works, Morgan Legaré explores the bilateral mechanisms between automation and control.
A true specialization within industrial control, automation is a process aimed at increasing profitability, as well as ensuring both the quantity — and quality — of production through advanced technologies. Based on the inner workings of these technical systems, the artist deliberately works in a counterproductive manner using 3D exploration software, in order to challenge practices that have been dehumanized by automation.
The bi-three-dimensional experiments of the Extraction corpus integrate precisely with the architectural components of the white cube at L’Œil de Poisson.
Curated by Jean-Michel Quirion, this first exhibition in an artist-run center for Morgan Legaré is conceived as a series of micro-construction sites. Through interventions of imposing fragility, built with extruded aluminum profiles, the artist reshapes the space. A central structure rises in the middle of the gallery, acting as a portal into interconnected interstices: from interior to exterior, from unstable to solid, from imperceptible to visible. Through illusionistic imagery, material stimuli in textiles, and out-of-the-norm structure-devices — shapeshifting decoys of sorts — Legaré playfully diverts the perception of this vernacular space within Méduse. Forms and functions are set in tension.
Assemblages and fiber castings, made in situ during the installation period at L’Œil, are scattered across aluminum supports and the concrete floor.
Textile reliefs with polymorphic textures are fixed into negatives. The reverse sides are displayed. The subtle imprints of metallurgical profiles are revealed in a permeable composite. The material, of precarious stability, both rises and collapses.
Moreover, in parallel to these propositions, Legaré presents the Extraction images.
Digitally crafted from molds made directly on the supports and from preparatory 3D models, these images generate their own variations in spatialization and reveal liminal interstices. They can be seen as recursive mises en abyme. The visual extractions are arranged in the gallery like windows into a virtually reproduced Œil de Poisson. The piece Consonances intemporelles (2022), placed on a tilted partition in a corner, is particularly captivating. The pixelated reflections — a kind of distortion resulting from the image rendering process — give the impression of a malfunctioning screen.
This installation skillfully replays the circulation of space, and notably that of contemplation.
Visitors are captivated by the material diversions made tangible. The artworks stem from slow processes and techniques that are stubbornly ambitious, laborious, and moreover, sparing. The methods of production — arising from expertise and deliberate, manual gestures — are not automated, but controlled by Morgan Legaré himself, and they stand out. The works are thus extracted from the productivist logic that has become the cornerstone of industrialization. This corpus deconstructs — or rather de-reconstructs — the notions of conditioning and optimization. These notions are inherent to what is crafted both by the artist’s hand in the studio and on his screen.
Text: Jean-Michel Quirion
Photo credits: Charles Frédérick Ouellet
l’Œil de Poisson, Québec (CAN)
Oct-Dec 2022
[EN]
À travers ses plus récents travaux, Morgan Legaré s’intéresse aux mécanismes bilatéraux entre l’automatisation et le contrôle. Véritable spécialisation en contrôle industriel, l’automatisation est un procédé visant à accroître la rentabilité, ainsi qu’à garantir la quantité — et la qualité — de production au moyen de technologies avancées. Selon les rouages de ces systèmes techniques, l’artiste crée de façon contre-productive avec un logiciel d’exploration 3D afin de contester des pratiques déshumanisées par l’automation.
Les expérimentations bi-tridimensionnelles du corpus Extraction, s’intègrent avec précision aux composantes architecturales du white cube de L’Œil de Poisson. Commissariée par Jean-Michel Quirion, cette première exposition en centre d’artistes pour Morgan Legaré s’appréhende telle une série de micro-chantiers. Par des interventions d’une imposante fragilité, bâties en profils d’aluminium extrudés, l’artiste édifie autrement l’espace. Une structure élevée au centre de la galerie agit comme un portail vers des interstices interreliés : de l’intérieur à l’extérieur, de l’instable au solide, de l’imperceptible au visible. Par le biais d’images aux effets illusionnistes, de stimuli matériels en textiles et de dispositifs-structures hors-normes, sortes de leurres protéiformes, Legaré détourne en des tours de passe-passe la perception de ce lieu vernaculaire de Méduse. Formes et fonctions entrent en tension.
Des assemblages et des moulages de fibres, réalisés de façon in situ durant la période de montage à L’Œil, se déclinent çà et là sur les supports d’aluminium et le sol bétonné. Les reliefs de textiles aux textures polymorphes sont figés en des négatifs. Les envers sont exposés. Les empreintes subtiles des profils métallurgiques se décèlent en un composite perméable. La matière, d’une stabilité précaire, s’élève et s’effondre.
Qui plus est, parallèlement à ces propositions, Legaré montre les images d’Extraction. Façonnées numériquement à partir de moulages réalisés directement sur les supports et de modélisations 3D préparatoires, celles-ci génèrent leurs propres variations de spatialisation et révèlent des interstices liminaux. Elles sont comparables à des (re)mises en abyme. Les extractions visuelles sont disposées dans la galerie comme des fenêtres donnant sur un Œil de Poisson reproduit virtuellement. L’œuvre Consonances intemporelles (2022), positionnée sur une cloison inclinée dans un recoin, est particulièrement attractive. Les reflets pixélisés, genre de perturbations causées lors du rendu de l’image, portent à croire qu’il s’agit d’un écran dysfonctionnel.
Cette installation rejoue habilement de la circulation et notamment de la contemplation. Les visiteur.euse.s sont captivé.e.s par les détournements matériels incarnés. Les œuvres relèvent de processus lents et de techniques obstinément ambitieuses, laborieuses et, de surcroît, parcimonieuses. Les procédés de réalisation, résultant de savoir-faire et de gestes appliqués, non automatisés, mais contrôlés par Morgan Legaré lui-même, sont saillants. Les pièces sont ainsi extraites de la logique productiviste devenue le précepte de l’industrialisation. Le présent corpus dé-reconstruit le conditionnement et l’optimisation. Celui-ci est immanent à ce qui se fabrique tant par les mains de l’artiste dans son atelier qu’à son écran.
Texte : Jean-Michel Quirion
Crédits photo : Charles Fréderick Ouellet