At first glance it looks like a wedding banquet. With an impressive glitter cake here, chocolate tips there, including small kitsch figures. The closer you get, the worse it gets…
Posted at 11:00 am
It’s a no-brainer, an exhibition autographed by Céline B. The Terror (with a fun predestined name, because yes, that’s her real name) and curated by Joyce Yahouda, has a little je-ne-sais-quoi des indeed freezing. And we’re not talking frosting here, although there’s plenty of it.
Think: an SOS in the frosting, yes, a handful of hair between different layers of chocolate or even a skull hidden in the cake. Not to mention that bone, dentures, and even a (wisdom!) tooth that you’ll rarely see hidden.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Here is a hidden skull
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
There a bloody figure
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
It’s Cake, a Céline B. The Terror exhibition curated by Joyce Yahouda, has a slightly chilling je ne sais quoi.
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Violent you say? Certainly, but with a little comic side and also funny, nuance the artist whose work was presented for the first time in 2019 as part of Underground Art at the Maison de la Culture in Pointe-aux-Aspen. She’s finally here again, as part of CAM (Conseil des arts de Montréal) on tour, at the Maison de la culture Maisonneuve until April 23rd. His installation then moved to LaSalle (from June 14 to July 14), then to Plateau Mont-Royal (from August 24 to October 8).
Céline B. La Terror has always been interested in the status of women (she studied feminism alongside her studies in fine arts). “Domestic violence, we have to talk about it,” she explains in an interview. And that is perhaps an easier or less difficult path, because it also has something playful about it. Very black humor, no doubt about it.
While reading Simone de Beauvoir, the artist, who teaches fine arts at the Cégep du Vieux Montréal, first became aware of the condition of the “second sex” and then “shocked”. Then she began making “nightmares” out of it with The Black Book of the Status of Women, a collective led by journalist and author Christine Ockrent. “Femicide, security issues, wartime rape, honor killings, stoning, list them. I had nightmares about it. […] And then I stopped at the issue of domestic violence, and as I continued my research, I realized how troubling this is. »
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Celine B. Terror, artist
Domestic violence is found in all countries, all social groups. And it’s pretty much unknown. There are many more victims than you think…
Celine B. Terror, artist
The subject of marriage came to mind because Celine B. La Terror loves ceremonies, especially their kitsch aesthetic. For the record, she and her aunt Louise (retired pastry chef) baked their very first layered cake 10 years ago for their parents’ 40th wedding anniversary. It is the same pie on top, separated by crystal champagne glasses, typical of the 1960s, that inspired the major work presented here, an almost perfect replica of the original, although here it is in acrylic.
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
The kitschy aesthetic of wedding ceremonies appeals to Céline B. La Terror.
And it’s deceiving to see the accuracy of the details of the glaze (we keep coming back to this) in particular. In fact, all of the works in the installation are based on acrylic. “Basically, I paint and draw,” explains Céline B. La Terror. For me it is painting, my medium is acrylic. I make acrylics on recycled containers. “Especially paint cans or coffee cans. “For me it is 3D painting. Super realistic painting. That’s an understatement.
The hidden items are all recycled, she points out: family jewels, bones (precision: turkey!), even dentures (from her grandfather!). The skulls (yes, there are skulls) of squirrels or mice were given to him or found. And yes, if you want to know everything, the wisdom tooth is his!
The cake will be presented at the Maison de la culture Maisonneuve until April 23rd. The opening is this Saturday, March 25th from 2pm to 4pm.