3655 blvd. St -Laurent
+1 514-850-9127
29 January 2011
The Paper Apartment Gallery is above L Corridor (a hard to find but very tasty Caribbean restaurant on blvd. St Laurent) amongst some loft apartments. This space is home to curator and textile artist, Courtenay Mayes, whose bedroom takes up at most, one tenth of the loft in a little corner. Her dedication to her art is evident straight away.
Ms. Mayes opens up her home, giving local and international artists a chance to showcase their work which might otherwise not have the opportunity to be in the public sector. Tonight’s show is a collaboration between publishing house French Fourch and artistic collective Charmant & Courtois. The aim of the show tonight is to raise money for an upcoming publication that the two collectives are working on. Considering the installation was put together rather last minute, the boys have pulled it off quite well.
Towards the back of the loft, two of the guys from French Fourch and four of the members of Charmant & Courtois are setting up eleven ancient computer monitors and screens (by ancient, I mean circa 1997). The French Fourch team has been growing rapidly, now having 22 members in the collective (including the six founding core members). I ask Sylvain Martet, one of the core figures from the French Fourch team, to tell me a little about this particular installation. He laughs and he explains that the computers were rescued from a previous installation in September 2010, and were nearly destroyed when the roof began to leak. As for the amusing gifs that are on the screens, some were works that have been used in prior shows, while some gifs and animations were put together just for this fundraiser. The process is fairly easy, M. Martet explains to me, and since the collective have put together countless installations, despite having only four days of prep-time, setting up the installation is a piece of cake for them (tonight's show eventuated from a single text message M. Martet sent to Ms. Mayes on Monday evening).
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| Courtesy French Fourch |
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| Courtesy French Fourch |
I walk around the installation, chuckling to myself at the gimmicky images of cats playing on keyboards and a flashing Ralph Lauren logo. Ms. Mayes has been working with French Fourch on-and-off for over two years, and this is the second time she has hosted and helped curate their work at The Paper Apartment Gallery. She describes their work quite simply as being "fun" and having obvious references to pop culture. She then goes on to explain the ideology behind the installation - art created for the moment, for an intended audience without any goal of being universal and timeless. After ensuring that all the monitors are arranged and are in working order, the boys begin to set up the projector; the finishing touch to the installation.
I ask Ms. Mayes more about her work and life in the loft. Her first ever show as a curator and host was in 2009, and since then has held over more than 50 shows at The Paper Apartment Gallery (never any of her own work, however.) On average, there is a new show in her loft every two weeks. I am a bit shocked to know that Ms. Mayes is only in her second year of study at Concordia, and am quietly impressed by all that she has accomplished thus far. It seems she has been practicing her craft for much longer than that, but she tells me that she hasn't been creating formal work for much longer than her studies. Originally from Alberta, Ms. Mayes chose to take her studies here since "Montreal really caters to artists". Amen to that, sister. She began working primarily with textiles, while also taking on a role as a curator when the opportunity presented itself. It was through her studies and making work formally that she realized how her work could grow, and became aware of what was possible in her chosen medium; thus leading to her to create motorized textiles and other installations. Courtenay Mayes aims for her creations to be moving and organic, more like a living creature than inanimate object. "I want to make my weaving dance," she says.
Considering Ms. Mayes prefers not to showcase her own work in her loft, she has displayed at Concordia, as well as at Galerie Diagonale; a fibre-arts gallery in Mile End. Working with a medium that is so materials-based the creation process can be very drawn out, and Ms. Mayes explains it is very common to become absorbed with the materials you are working with. She is continually exploring new concepts and ways to work with weaving and textile. Ms. Mayes is currently working on a large scale weaving, and spends five days a week devoted to her personal projects while balancing her commitments as a curator. In addition to this Ms. Mayes is working with local fashion designer Audrey Cantwell, to help realize Ms. Cantwell's ideas for prints on fabric. Ms. Mayes has ambitions to live and study in Sweden, as the popularity of textile arts there is immense; and she admits that preparing applications for grants and project proposals here in Montreal is taking up much of her time, meaning fewer hours are spent actually making her art.
When producing art with textile and weaving, Ms. Mayes works in a grand scale, with one of last year's creations being a 10ft diameter parachute. Complete with fans and sounds, this is a primary example of how Ms. Mayes aims to make art that has movement and a sense of being organic. To describe this installation as "an organism" is very fitting, since the parachute moves like a big, bold, palpitating amoeba.
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| Courtesy Courtenay Mayes |
The other avenue that Mayes is exploring is video installation, and in one particular project from 2010 she worked with Plexiglas. This study shows Ms. Mayes placing together a 'glass house'. The video begins with the individual pieces of the house lying against a white background, and Ms. Mayes begins to slowly bring together the pieces of this transparent puzzle. The structure of the house itself is quite hard to see against the white background and intense lighting set up. The camera work makes the details of the house even harder to see, as the focus shifts from soft to crisp for the duration of the video. The only solid forms that can be recognized are Ms. Mayes' hands that are putting the house together. In my opinion, the use of soft focus, the intense bright lighting and the translucent glass forces the viewer to really focus hard on what is happening in the video. The pace of the video is very slow, and the bright white atmosphere creates a tranquil feeling. As you become absorbed in the peacefulness of the video, you are suddenly snapped back to reality when Ms. Mayes slices her finger on the edge of the glass and drops of blood spill on the roof of the glass house. This is a good way to end off this cutesy, dreamy video, as it reminds the viewer that they are simply that. A viewer; a spectator.
The attendance at The Paper Apartment Gallery for the fundraiser turned out to be successful, despite the minimal planning and amount of promotion for the event. The two collectives raised money for their next project by selling their T-shirts, prints, zines and silk screens (and I think they made a considerable amount from beer they were selling too). I was quite impressed by the paper-wallets from the French Fourch collective, (not only for the punchy design), as upon my closer inspection were a lot more sturdy and practical than I first assumed.
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| Courtesy French Fourch |
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| Courtesy French Fourch |
The vibe at the loft is great; and I like the sense of community that is present in a place like The Paper Apartment Gallery. I am hoping to see some more shows here before Ms. Mayes heads off to Sweden to further her skills, or possibly even off to NYC to work with a designer in May this year.
