Oil on linen, 2022
“Like a pendulum, [Lafontaine] takes the measure of the architectural and vibratory space, immerses herself in its spatiality, oscillating between perception and sensation until she abolishes the distance between them: ‘The strange sensory experience contributes to a feeling of dissociation from reality and the movements of my limbs fill the space in a disproportionate ratio.’ Lafontaine captures the carrier system as well as the infiltrating light rays. Her body, activated by the pictorial gesture, becomes a ‘synesthetic commutator.’ It is the vehicle allowing the translation, like a delicate transfer of relics, of which the Latin root translatio indicates both the transport and the translation. To these ‘remains’ is added a quantity of metaphysical and mystical information, invisible and intangible.” – Marie DuPasquier
Élise Lafontaine (Tiohtiá:ke/Montréal) holds a master’s degree in visual and media arts from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2020) and a BFA from Concordia University (2015). She has participated in artist residencies at the Fondation Christoph Merian/CALQ and Malévoz Quartier culturel (Switzerland), the Vermont Studio Center (United States), and the Leipzig International Art Programme (Germany). Her work has been presented in solo exhibitions at Sothu Zurich (Switzerland) and at Pangée and Galerie Nicolas Robert (Canada), and in group exhibitions (Centre CLARK, Fondation Rad Hourani, McBride Contemporain, Maison de la culture du Plateau‑Mont‑Royal, Usine C, Galerie Art Mûr, Leipzig Spinnerei Autumn Gallery Tour). In May 2023, the Centre CLARK published her first book, Archives, and presented a solo exhibition with guest curator Marie DuPasquier. This fall, she will participate in a group exhibition at Soka Art Beijing curated by Jessica Wan.