Projet Jean Berger Project - Finissage & Catalogue Launch
Artists:
Wahsontiio Cross, Stephanie Coleman, Laura Findlay, Joanna Lemon, Julian Peters & David J. Romero
Curators:
Jessa Alston-O'Connor, Lindsay Cory, Corina Ilea & Maya Soren
Jean Berger always claimed to be a painter in front of his judges. Beyond these statements, no evidence exists of his works or artistic career. Instead, the breadth of historical information surrounding his life originates from court documents chronicling his many problems with the
justice system and the resulting masterful avoidance of punishment that culminated in his escape from prison to New England around 1710. The attempt to construct Berger's history proves to be a challenging one, but from all recovered traces of his life, his missing (art)work stands out.
Projet Jean Berger Project explores the inevitable gaps that determine historical research and knowledge. This project envisions the absence of knowledge about Jean Berger as a space for productive interpretation and creation to be filled in by the imagination of the artists. This "blurred" knowledge makes room for intersections between art, hisorical research, artistic practice and curatorial strategies.
Projet Jean Berger Project was initiated by a core collective of art history graduate students in response to Dr. François-Marc Gagnon's 40 years of research culminating in his book, Jean Berger, peintre et complice? (2010).
The artists and curators will be in attendance. The full colour catalogue contains texts written by each of the curators, interviews with the artists, and images of all works. The edition is limited but can be purchased at the finissage for $15.00.
Additional information
Where:
FOFA Gallery, Faculty of Fine Arts, Concordia University
1515 Ste. Catherine Street W., EV 1.715
Montreal, Quebec (Metro Guy Concordia)
Gallery hours: Monday to Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Free admission. Everyone welcome.
When: Tuesday, May 23, 6 to 8 p.m.
Exhibition ongoing to May 27, 2012.
Speeches by Dr. Johanne Sloan (Graduate Program Director, Dept. of Art History, Concordia University) and Dr. François-Marc Gagnon (Founding Director & Distinguished Research Fellow of the Gail & Stephen A. Jarislowsky Institute for Studies in Canadian Art) will take place at 6:30 pm.