Le temps solidifié

Curator: Pascale Beaudet

As author and psychoanalyst Daniel Sibony wrote, an artwork is a “time-object” in that it solidifies and contains time, refers to existing moments and produces new ones, i.e., “more-time.” This proposition applies particularly well to the work of Louis-Charles Dionne, who intensifies the idea by “solidifying” everyday objects, both in form and content.

Time cards, government forms, folders, computer files, rubber band ball: the physical manifestation of these objects is reworked in stone, often marble, and evoke the history of sculpture and memorials. Symbolizing long periods of time, these materials also embody aspects opposed by modernism. Shapeless and “ignoble” (as relative to “noble”) materials have become emblematic of twentieth century works.

The reversal of perspective that Dionne proposes in the exhibition is not a return to the old order. Using everyday objects, he offers a reading of contemporary life based on time and the bureaucratization of artistic practice. The icons accumulating on a computer screen of folders full of grant applications and calls for work are solidified in marble and composite stone. The notebook or spiral notebook alludes to the accumulation of information recorded by the artist in connection with the school institution or even the creation process. These time-objects become a receptacle for the imagination, a mine of ideas waiting to be extracted.

Louis-Charles Dionne warmly thanks the Conseil des arts et les lettres du Québec, as well as the Canada Council for the Arts and Arts Nova Scotia for their support.