galerie c.o.a | LES CAGES; L'ESPACE ENTRE LES BARREAUX
october 19 - november 25, 2017
As of October 19th, 2017, Quebec artist Sandra Chevrier will present “The Cages; Between the Bars”, a solo exhibition of her most recent work, at Galerie C.O.A.
The cage motif is at the heart of Sandra Chevrier’s œuvre. Made of comic book fragments which the artist collages onto her models’ faces, the cages act as masks, but also allow to peer inside and observe what they conceal. Beneath the pop facture and the flashy colours, the precision and lustre of her portraits, Chevrier’s masked models (all from Montreal) act like prisms and allow us to peer at the dance between power and fragility; between liberty and captivity. Despite all the colourful playfulness and the “CRASH! BAM! POW!,” superheroes are also fragile. After all, we are merely human, and we are entitled to our flaws and errors.
Although her artwork is internationally acclaimed, Sandra Chevrier’s name remains relatively unknown in her home country. Sandra Chevrier has presented solo exhibitions in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, and Norway contemporary art galleries. She has participated in many art fairs across the world, notably in London, Miami and New York. Her artwork is currently on display at the Urban Nation Museum in Berlin, and in 2018, she will present an exhibition at the Lancaster Museum of Art and History (MOAH), in California.
«A Cage is an open prison: closed for the one inside, open for the one outside. Between the two exists the gaze, linking the exterior and the interior. A Cage is a means of making visible that which is inside. it is also a way to protect oneself from the captive within. There’s a certain pleasure to be experienced by looking through the spaces between the bars, and feeling the attraction exerted by the object or subject enclosed in the Cage. It entrances us.
Art is a way to document the time we live in; if there's a war or a revolution, you will see it on walls and in museums. We live in a part of the world where people need to be heard, to feel free, to be who they want to be. They seek respect and acceptance in order to let the veils, masks, and cages fall. A Cage is a place in our minds wherein we punish ourselves. Depression and suicide rates are so high and most of the time, it is due to the pressure exerted on individuals, either by society or themselves. We perceive failure as an ending of sorts, when in fact it's a chance for a new beginning. We are unique and shouldn't feel obligated to wear a mask in order to enter the ranks.
We live in a time of change, and it is horrible and it is beautiful.
We need to scream.
We need to be free.»
Galerie C.O.A, 6405 Saint-Laurent bvld, Montreal, Canada
