Alexandre Masino

April 4, 2012

Encaustic Monotype : Group Show

Hot Off the Press:

New Encaustic Printmaking 

R&F Gallery

April 7th, 2012 – May 19th, 2012

Vernissage : April 7^th – 5:00 to 7:00 pm

Alexandre Masino
À l'orée des monts III, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper
23" x 34.5"

David A. Clark is curating a group show on encaustic monotype at the R&F Gallery in Kingston, New York. The selected artists will be presenting a wide variety of works exploring this technique which has been drawing an increasing amount of attention in the United States over the last years. It was a pleasure to create a new series of large mountainscape prints for this occasion. I look forward to attending the opening and seeing all the works in the flesh. Encaustic monotypes can be so rich and subtle that it is worth seeing them in person to truly appreciate them.

Alexandre Masino
Entre source et nuage I, 2012
Encaustic monotype on Masa paper
23" x 34.5"

The group show includes the following artists:

David A. Clark

Diana Gonzalez Gandolfi

To read the gallery’s press release please click here.

I am taking this opportunity to quickly announce that I will be giving a three day workshop on encaustic painitng and monotype at R&F next Autumn in parallel to presenting a solo show. I’ll write a longer post on the workshop in the coming weeks but if you want to read about it, please click here.

Alexandre Masino

Cette marée de pierre I, 2012

Encaustic monotype on Gampi paper 34.5" x 23"

R&F Gallery

84 Ten Broeck Ave

Kingston, New York

(800) 206-8088 or (845) 331-3112

April 3, 2012

Yechel Gagnon : Public Art

Yechel Gagnon

Tong, 2011
Cast aluminium, 247" x 107"
Théâtre la Licorne, Montréal
Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon's Public Art Project @ Théâtre La Licorne
4559, Avenue Papineau, Montréal, Québec

Architects : FABG

Yechel Gagnon, Tong, 2011
Cast aluminium, 247" x 107"
Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon created Tong, a large cast aluminium mural for the Licorne Theatre in Montreal. For the first time, she transposes her visual language within the realm of metal work. Gagnon created organic forms evoking movement and fluidity in dialogue with the dense and solid medium and city environment.

The title of the mural Tong, is a Chinese term meaning Together which alludes to the noted adage “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”. This is undoubtedly an apt concept to associate with the Art of theatre. Indeed, a theatre play requires a strong collective effort to produce and it is as a group that we experience it as spectators.

Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011
Photo : Marc Cramer

Creating public art projects triggers many new avenues in Yechel Gagnon’s production. For the Licorne Theatre, Gagnon had to question materiality in an entirely new way in order to create a work that would sustain the harsh exterior conditions. After an extensive research period of experimenting with numerous materials, she found a technique to transfer her visual language, usually associated with plywood bas-reliefs, into cast aluminium, adding yet another layer of complexity to her practice.

To read a great review of this installation published on Yatzer click here.

Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011
Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011

Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011

Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon, Tong (detail), 2011

Photo : Marc Cramer

March 17, 2012

Encaustic & gold leaf

Alexandre Masino
Offrandes (Bijutsu), 2011
Encaustic and gold leaf on panel
28" x 36"

Alexandre Masino
Le sacré du profane (Bijutsu), 2011
Encaustic and gold leaf on panel
28" x 36"

December 20, 2011

Contre-Jour, Numéro 25

Couverture de Contre-Jour, cahiers littéraires

Numéro 25, Automne 2011

J’ai été invité à publier 20 tableaux dans le numéro actuel des cahiers littéraires Contre-Jour (Numéro 25, Automne 2011). Cette collaboration est très intéressante puisque la revue invite un artiste par numéro, reproduit les oeuvres en grand format et donne beaucoup de latitude quant aux oeuvres proposées. Contrairement à un catalogue d’exposition qui se penche nécessairement sur la production récente, la revue couvre les dix dernières années de mon travail telle une mini rétrospective. En plus de tableaux de paysages, de natures mortes et de vues d'intérieurs, vous y retrouverez trois monotypes à l'encaustique, technique d'oeuvre sur papier que je pratique depuis quelques années.

J’ai été particulièrement heureux d’être invité à collaborer au numéro actuel puisqu’il traite principalement de l’essai littéraire et de sa place dans le paysage québécois actuel. Intellectuellement riche et dense, ce numéro jumelle la rigueur conceptuelle à la prise de position subjective, ce qui me convient tout particulièrement. Je vous invite donc, si la chose vous intéresse, à consulter la revue en kiosque ou en libriaire.

Alexandre Masino

Genèse (Portrait de Fayoum au Louvre), 2008

Encaustique et feuille d'or sur panneau

54.5 cm x 79 cm / 21.5" x 31"

September 23, 2011

Oeuvre récente

Alexandre Masino

Poussières d'étoiles (Sakura), 2011

Encaustique sur panneau, 45" x 88.5"

for the english version of this text, please read my previous post

Mon travail se situe à la frontière de la mimèsis et de l'invention; réponse à l'observation directe, à la mémoire et à l'imagination. La transition entre ces trois types de perception constitue un espace fertile où je participe à la mouvance du langage visuel comprenant parfaitement que l’art découle de l’art. Le périple que j’entreprends ne se situe pas seulement de par le monde mais à-travers le temps. Le territoire parcouru est le continent de l’art où l'expérience et l'histoire humaine sont fondamentales.

Poussières d'étoiles (Sakura), détail

Mon travail est avant tout pictural prenant son sens dans l'expérience physique et dans la perpétuelle métamorphose qui se déroule sous nos yeux. Ainsi, le tableau vu de près offre une réalité tout autre que le même tableau vu à distance, ou encore, réagit et se transforme selon la lumière ambiante éclairant sa surface. Bon nombre de peintres ont parlé de ce moment où la peinture "se lève", "advient" et prend tout son sens. Dans mon cas, ce moment survient lorsque le spectateur prend le temps, face à l'œuvre, de mettre en rapport le sujet et le fond, la lumière et l'ombre, l'image et la surface, et tous ces éléments en relation à l'ensemble.

Poussières d'étoiles (Sakura), détail

Je peins à l'encaustique des tableaux où la versatilité, la sensualité et la richesse du médium font contrepoids à une imagerie dépouillée et contemplative. Indépendamment du sujet traité, que j’utilise le paysage, la nature morte ou le nu, nous pouvons lier mes oeuvres à une certainte “immensité intime”.

Poussières d'étoiles (Sakura), détail

Mon utilisation de l'encaustique, avec sa physicalité, ses transparences et ses empâtements me permet de créer des oeuvres figuratives de façon à ce que le geste de peindre soit aussi porteur que le sujet représenté. Perpétuel aller-retour entre matière et signifiant, l'inévitable dualisme de la peinture me fascine et par conséquent mon travail se concentre sur cet infime instant de transition où ces deux réalités oscillent l'une avec l'autre.

Poussières d'étoiles (Sakura) dans

mon atelier à Longueuil, 2011

Quote : John Lennon

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans.

June 6, 2011

Recent Work

Alexandre Masino

Transfigurations, 2011

Encaustic on panel, 31.5" x 96"

My paintings border between mimesis and invention; responding to observed reality, memory and imaginative perception. The transition between what is real, remembered or imagined creates a fertile territory for me to evoke the very notion that art derives from art. The journey we undertake is not only a journey through the world but beyond time. The continent that we travel is the continent of art where human history and experience are fundamental.

Transfigurations, detail

My approach is foremost pictorial and is deeply rooted in the constant metamorphosis inherent to the physical act of looking. A painting must offer many different realities according to the distance from which it is viewed and the ambient lighting hitting the surface. Many painters have evoked this very instant when the painting “rises”, when it “happens” and suddenly takes all its meaning. In my work this moment may only happen when one takes the time to look and place the subject in relation with the background, the light with the shadows, the image and the surface, and all these elements in relation with the complete picture.

Transfigurations, detail

I create encaustic paintings where the richness, sensuality and versatility of the medium echo a minimal and contemplative imagery. Whether I use landscapes, still lifes or nudes, I like to approach my subjects matters in relation to some “intimate immensity”.

Transfigurations, detail

My use of encaustic, with its physicality, impasto and transparencies, allows me to create figurative works in which the gesture, the actual act of painting, is just as important and meaningful as the depicted subject. In this regard I am compelled by the inevitable dualism between matter and meaning that we find at the core of painting. Consequently my work focuses on this infinite moment where these realities oscillate.

Transfigurations, detail

Transfigurations, 2011

At night, in my studio

May 16, 2011

Quote : Albert Einstein

Imagination is more important than knowledge,

for while knowledge points to all there is, imagination points to all there will be.

Quote taken from "Smart Moves, Why learning is not all in your head" by Carla Hannaford, Ph.D.

May 7, 2011

Yechel Gagnon : Public Art

Yechel Gagnon

Entre brume et nuage, 2010

Graphite and graphite powder on Mylar

Ink on Stonehenge paper mounted on aluminium

113.5" x 583.5" / 288 x 1482 cm

Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon's Public Art Projet @ College Jean-de-Brébeuf

5625 rue Decelles, Montréal, Québec

Architects : Menkès Shooner Dagenais LeTourneux

Yechel Gagnon

Entre brume et nuage, 2010

Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon presents Entre brume et nuage, Entre ciel et terre, two very distinct works in appearance which consist of a rich dialogue where the points of reference are subtle yet substantial.

The space offered at the college, through the long corridor and the grand foyer, is double and unique; double in its dimensions and functions, unique by its majestic architecture that embraces the exterior garden and its natural elements. Gagnon chose to use the two different techniques that we may see here, carved plywood and a frottage drawing.

The triptych Entre brume et nuage is created from the plywood bas-reliefs seen in the corridor, but we may look in vain searching which panel corresponds to a particular drawing since the rubbing is a process whereby an entire new work is created by displacement of the paper. Entre brume et nuage presents an imagery oscillating between abstraction and an imaginary landscape echoing a certain tradition of Chinese ink painting.

Yechel Gagnon

Entre brume et nuage, 2010

Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon

Entre brume et nuage, 2010

Photo : Marc Cramer

Yechel Gagnon

Entre brume et nuage, 2010

Photo : Alexandre Masino

Yechel Gagnon

Entre ciel et terre, 2010

Carved poplar plywood

174" x 803.5" / 442 x 2041 cm

Photo : Marc Cramer

In the corridor, Entre ciel et terre also unveils a series of imaginary spaces. Each bas-relief has its own entity, but an attentive eye will discern a long flowing movement from one panel to the other similar to a large imperceptible tide.

Consisting of different formats, the bas-reliefs are integrated between the existing architectural vertical lines of the wall. They accentuate the rhythm in symbiosis with the architecture. Wood, an organic element par excellence, crosses the transparency of the window to rejoin the beauty of the exterior garden. This garden also visible from the foyer is no stranger to the inspiration that underlines the design of the frottage drawings.

One who stops to consider the profound convergence of all these elements will have the pleasure to find themselves in presence of a single work of art where architecture, garden, Entre brume et nuage, Entre ciel et terre are complicit in upholding a single dialogue.

Collaboration : Alexandre Masino, Yan Giguère, Christian Miron, Louis Lussier, Pierre Charrier, Gisèle Millet et Renée Joubert