Published at 1:27 am. Updated at 8:00 a.m.
Karine Bouchard Special Collaboration
Surrounded by around fifteen carefully selected works by Jean Paul Riopelle, the artist set up a studio in Claire and Marc Bourgie’s pavilion for five consecutive days, consisting of an impressive number of Moog brand instruments. The structure included analog synthesizers, a transistor organ and an electromechanical piano. While most of the devices are an integral part of Mathieu David Gagnon’s personal collection, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) was able to add a very rare piece to the lot, which is kept at the University of Laval.
“These are machines that were invented in the same years as Riopelle’s creations,” explains the composer, referring to the lithograph series Leaves (1967), which hangs on the rails of his “studio”.
The discovery of this series, which was rather silent in Riopelle’s production, was a revelation for Mathieu David Gagnon, who creates, through the accumulation of layers of sound, something reminiscent of the technique of printmaking.
The way in which [Riopelle] The work inspires me, be it through layering. I already knew his work, but not his lithographs.
Mathieu David Gagnon
Like the famous painter, the musician is driven by the openness and chance that creation brings, which in his case can be provided by analogue synthesizers. “My life changed when I bought a Minimoog, an old one. When [les instruments] Not doing quite what they’re supposed to do leads to things we wouldn’t have thought of. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Flore Laurentienne is a guest at the MMFA
“That’s why there are so many instruments here: [ceux-ci] “Inspire me a lot,” reveals the musician, who always analyzes a physical section of a particular synthesizer in detail before moving on to another. His approach also justifies the fact that no digital device is part of the creative space.
Excerpt from an ongoing composition by Flore Laurentienne at the MMFA
When music enters the museum
Accompanied by musician Antoine Létourneau-Berger, Mathieu David Gagnon performed eight hours a day in his “studio” during this residency. “I wanted to remember the first minimalism concerts. [Les musiciens] played all night long. […] People came in, went out and slept. That existed in the 1960s.”
According to the artist, the idea of performing electronic music in the museum arose from the Moog synthesizer concert that took place in 1969 at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) as part of the “Jazz in the Garden” series.
Let us emphasize that since this New York event, music has gradually conquered a place in museum institutions, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts thanks to the exhibitions Warhol Live ( 2008) or more recently At Full Volume: Basquiat and Music ( 2022).
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
The public will witness Flore Laurentienne’s creative process in a room of the MMFA’s Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Mathieu David Gagnon, musician behind the Flore Laurentienne project
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Mathieu David Gagnon with his instrument utensils
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According to the General Director of the MMFA, Stéphane Aquin, “Museums are cleaning up art history [lorsqu’il] There are only tables. Art often arises from a pool of ideas that flow from one form into another. It happens in a workshop, sometimes with music, in collaboration.” He points out that the MMFA “restores the structure of this art history,” which can make for fascinating reading of the works.
In the case of the Flore Laurentienne project, however, the aim is to deepen this relationship between music and museum even further. “It is a truly creative residence,” continues Stéphane Aquin.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Stéphane Acquin, General Director of the MMFA
I discovered that there was a real plastic intelligence in Riopelle [dans le projet de Mathieu David Gagnon]. The compositional and structural similarities between music and visual art were diverse.
Stéphane Acquin, General Director of the MMFA
Beyond nature and abstraction
The idea of a residency arose when Flore Laurentienne wrote the original music for the podcast Dépaître Riopelle, which aired on Radio-Canada’s OHdio platform. “I was surprised at how much Riopelle and painting inspired me,” admits the composer.
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Flore Laurentienne’s residency at the MMFA will serve as a prelude to a concert at Bourgie Hall next spring.
The bonds that bind the two artists are far from limited to a shared interest in the landscapes surrounding the St. Lawrence River from the heights of Kamouraska. Flore Laurentienne transcends the platitudes of a reading of Riopelle that focuses on nature and geese or even on abstraction and relations to automatism. It is a new look off the beaten path that is being taken. The project creates a rapprochement between electronic music and the visual arts of the 1950s and 1960s and questions the zeitgeist in a different way.
Is this music residency the start of a new series at the MMFA? It seems that the project is quite unique in the eyes of its general director, who wants to wait until another strong proposal is presented. “It is the artists who guide us,” he concludes.
A concert event at Bourgie Hall
The residency will be the prelude to a major concert scheduled for March 23 at 7:30 p.m. at Bourgie Hall. For this occasion, Flore Laurentienne will consist of an ensemble of 15 musicians. String, wind and percussion instruments are combined with synthesizers and the harpsichord in Bourgie Hall.
Who is Flore Laurentienne?
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Mathieu David Gagnon
- Mathieu David Gagnon is a graduate of the Faculty of Music at the University of Montreal. He completed his training at the Aubervilliers Conservatory and the Bordeaux Conservatory.
- He presents his project under the name Flore Laurentienne with the album Volume I.
- In 2020, he won two awards at ADISQ and was nominated for the Polaris Music Prize for Best Canadian Album of the Year. In 2021, it was a finalist in the Instrumental Album of the Year category at the Juno Awards. In 2022 he released the album Volume II.