Presented in partnership with MOCCA.

Gwenaël Bélanger characterizes his
approach to image making to that of
a bricoleur or handyman. His process
begins with a vivid mental picture resulting
from his close observation of the
everyday world and its mundane objects.
Like a construction site, his creative
space expands as his images begin to
take shape.

Using digital technology and photographic
processes, Bélanger playfully
and deftly assembles multiple stills into
one picture plane. He manipulates forms
and transforms objects, combining
perspectives to reveal a fictitious point
of view. Set within a “real” scene, his images
of an imagined realm of possibilities
maintain uncanny believability.

Echoing the parking lot setting,
Bélanger’s image Le Grand Fatras (2005)
(The Big Clutter) is reproduced as a
massive mural and adhered to a building
in the Museum of Contemporary
Canadian Art’s courtyard. Displayed in
the same location as the CONTACT 2008
mural by Robert Burley that documented
the demolition of a Kodak factory,
Belanger’s image could be interpreted
as the downpour that followed the
explosion in Burley’s photograph.
Objects propelled into the air, rebellious
and playful, may well be understood as
fallout from the demise of the photochemical
era or representatives of the
material glut of our existence. Open to
interpretation, Bélanger’s work freezes
moments in time, leaving the viewer
to imagine the inevitable smash of his
objects on the ground.

Montreal-based Gwenaël Bélanger
has exhibited his work in numerous
galleries and museums in Quebec
including the Galérie de l’UQAM, le Musée
National des Beaux-Arts du Québec,
le Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal,
and internationally at the 11th
Visual Arts Biennial in Pancevo, Serbia
and Montenegro and the triennial l’Art
qui fait boum!. He is represented by the
Graff Galerie in Montreal. For CONTACT,
Bélanger’s work is also in the exhibition
Still Motions at the Gladstone Hotel.