Sillons | Partager la Collection Loto-Québec
with
Cindy Dumais, Ryth Kesselring, Gabriel Mondor et Douglas Scholes
Commissaire | Julien St-Georges Tremblay
September 15 to December 15, 2023
Group Exhibition at the Le Centre SAGAMIE
50 Rue Saint-Joseph, Alma, QC
The exhibition SILLONS | Partager la Collection Loto-Québec is the result of a process of exploration of the Loto-Québec Collection, which comprises almost 5,000 works. Some of these works are on display at the company’s head office, in its casinos and on the walls of certain ministerial offices.
For this exhibition, Loto-Québec and Centre SAGAMIE asked Julien St-Georges Tremblay to act as curator. Following a call for submissions, four Quebec artists – Cindy Dumais (Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean), Ryth Kesselring (Montérégie), Gabriel Mondor (Lanaudière) and Douglas Scholes (Montreal) – were chosen to create original works and put them in dialogue with a selection of works from the Loto-Québec Collection.
Artwork as entity and a journey to reveal the life of collections – Douglas Scholes
At the heart of my project is the animation of an artwork as an entity, an individual, who became a representation of the Loto-Québec art collection. The portrait Tit-Georges, a young boy 6 or 7 years old from the Charlevoix region, was painted by Jori Smith in 1946. The painting is one of the early additions to the Loto-Québec collection, which has almost 5000 artworks. Since his induction into the Loto-Québec collection in the 1980s, Tit-Georges has been stored – he has not been taken out or exhibited. The taking of Tit-George out of storage allows for the artwork (him) to be seen in public while visiting other artworks (also individuals) within collections housed in particular locations including the Montreal Casino and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA). In both locations, Tit Georges had the chance to interact with other works of art and the spaces/architectural features creating an informal, even quotidian, dialogue with the diversity of audiences encountered. At the MMFA, Tit Georges experienced a symbolic and literal reunion with other paintings of people by Jori Smith. The unusual approach to animate this artwork, taking him on tour to create an informal experience, highlights the shared formal values found within the two distinct cultural institutions, presenting perspectives of the methods through which significant cultural collections can continually be given life.
Photography: Alexi Bellavance and Paul Litherland
Special thanks to Manon Pouliot, Loto-Québec
Selection from Exhibition:
escaliers du casino
