Identité.e.s
September 3 - September 20
Within the programming of Rallye Expo's "Vues d’Afrique" festival, the artistic collective addresses themes of cultural identity, diversity, heritage and belonging. IDENTITÉ.E.S looks at how personal identity can be expressed through one's artistic practice, and how culture influences conceptual and technical directions within the arts.
Neila Ben Ayed's work represents hybridity and the multiple facets that make up one's identity. As a Tunisian artist living in Montreal, her artistic work proposes a dialogue between cultures, both stylistically and thematically. Ben Ayed has shown her work in more than 150 solo and group exhibitions throughout Canada, as well as in Tunisia, the United States, Italy, Morocco, China, and France. The artist has been represented by the Ashok Jain Gallery of New York and has exhibited at the United Nations, the Venice Biennale, the Carlo Bilotti Museum in Rome, and the Bardo National Museum of Tunisia. In 2019-2020, her works can be seen at prestigious venues such as Palais Montcalm and the National Assembly in Quebec City.
Jean-François Leclerc is an artist, historian and museologist committed to highlighting the value of our pluricultural city through the memories and stories of its inhabitants. His personal journey in the visual arts runs parallel to his work in the cultural and historical preservation. Since 2012, he has participated in several solo and group exhibitions, notably within the framework of Rallye-Expo. His large-scale acrylic paintings are neither completely abstract nor recognizably figurative, he tempers the initial spontaneous energies of gesture and colour by gradually adding, emphasizing, and subtracting elements in a teeming, mysterious world The triptych created for this exhibition evokes a tension that characterizes the human condition: between the desire for individualistic freedom and the adherance to our collective belonging; heavy with the weight of history and mythmaking.
Marlene Luce Tremblay’s work challenges the boundaries between photography and painting. Her image making is strongly inspired by her extensive travels throughout Europe and th Middle East, aiming to capture the cultural footprint, diversity, and history of a great civilization while bringing light the beauty of the natural world. She is now based in Quebec after having lived in New York working at the United Nations. Throughout her career Tremblay exhibited in Montreal, New York, Paris, London, Cairo, Tunis & Sidi Bou Saïd in Tunisia Algiers, as well as in Italy, including at the 2017 Florence Biennale.
Michel Pierre Lachance is an artist, photographer, architect, and interior designer. His work has been exhibited in the Sherbrooke Museum of Fine Arts, Galerie Art Mur, At Sight Brooklyn, and in Los Angeles as part of the 2020 Billboard Creative Show. He is particularly interested in the notion of perception in abstraction; his works are characterized by the play of transparency, colour and form. His travels through Morocco, India, and Senegal have strongly influence his work. Recently, he has been exploring the more narrative aspects of the expressive possibilities of painting and photography. The series presented in Identité.e.s is a tribute to his friend Richard Isaac, who died tragically in Montreal in 2018. Through abstract represetation, the series addresses nostalgia and personal history within the composition of one’s identity.
Algerian-Montrealer Azzedine Mekbel’s art has been inspired by public debate and questions of diversity. His aesthetic experience include a technological edge, integrating computer graphics, photography, and video with traditional media such as painting and illustration. His works aim to generate an intimate relationship between the artist and the public In the diptych presented in this exhibition, the symbolic gaze of the figure represents an ancestral identity, reminding us of the source of the modern human being: Africa, cradle of humanity, our common universal heritage.
Schedule a Private Viewing
Exhibition Opening Hours:
Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday: 10 AM - 5 PM
Thursday: 1 PM to 7 PM
2471 Rue Centre
H3K 1J9 Montreal
Left to Right: Azzedine Mekbel, Jean-François Leclerc, Marlene Luce Tremblay, Michel Pierre Lachance, Neila Ben Ayed
Archive Contemporary
2471 Rue Centre,
maela@archivec.art
T. 514.549.8885
Open by Appointment
Ouvert sur Rendezvous
2471 Rue Centre,
Montreal, QC H3K 1J9
Archive Contemporary is a fine art gallery based in Montreal. The gallery provides a platform for established and emerging artistic talent, promoting visibility through monthly group and solo exhibitions. Archive Contemporary also hosts events centered around discourse, creative career development and community building through its artist-led educational programming.
Archive Contemporary is a fine art gallery based in Montreal. The gallery provides a platform for established and emerging artistic talent, promoting visibility through monthly group and solo exhibitions. Archive Contemporary also hosts events centered around discourse, creative career development and community building through its artist-led educational programming.
maela@archivec.art
T. 514.549.8885
Open by Appointment
Ouvert sur Rendezvous