Suzanne Cloutier
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Suzanne Cloutier STATEMENT My collages on canvas or paper examine the links between landscape and story. They explore notions of boundary, limit and what it means to be human. An enigmatic narration reveals within them the spirit of a place; the landscape is human, it is thought-out, organized by and classified according to human concepts. This link between human and territory constitutes the source of this series of works. The picture’s space is constructed around the human body by the line of the horizon separating land from sky, architectural lines marking off territory, revealing social status, or the line of an abstract form that bears witness to concepts of art and the modern spirit. Nature is shown as vegetation, birds, insects and also as the elements of fire and water that break up the landscape. Culture makes an appearance through the shapes of the buildings that maintain the territory’s borders, its frontiers. Personal stories and public history are manifested through photography. The works always start with a photographic document taken from the news, history or pop culture, or from personal photos. A detail is isolated, juxtaposed with another and moved out of context within a collage of forms and meanings that enhances the reading of the work. From its surface alone we are able to tell how the picture was built up. The pieces of canvas or paper are torn, cut and assembled as the work progresses. The traces of the picture’s construction that are visible in its texture accentuate the tension between abstraction and the illusion of representation. What results is a dialogue between the work’s surface and narrative content. The large format of most of my works allows for an even greater physical relationship with the picture – we enter it as we move towards it and lose ourselves at its surface. My work wavers between contemplation and movement, and deals in metaphors of change. It provokes a fictional dialogue between humanity and the space it occupies, while attempting to grasp exactly what it is that constructs us. In addition, recent political developments – the indignation and resistance we’ve seen around the world – have influenced some of the pictures by highlighting the notion of limit, of resistance and of tension. BIO Born in Montreal where she lives and works, Suzanne Cloutier studied painting, drawing and printmaking at Concordia University. She subsequently developed and perfected her technique during many years where she worked as a muralist and scenic painter. She now pursues a career in the film industry as a key decorator and production designer. Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally including solo exhibition at the Marie-Uguay Cultural Center in Montreal, at La Biennale du dessin d’Alma. She also represented Québec at the Jeux de la Francophonie in Madagascar. Cloutier is also the recipient of numerous awards including The Dean’s Purchase Awards for Lithography at Concordia University, grants from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec and from the Canada Council for the Arts. Her work is part of public collections such as the Canada Art Bank and Concordia University. ARTIST CONTACT [click to email] IMAGES
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