Montreal Artist Nicolas Baier Attempts to Capture the Invisible
OTTAWA.- Pareidolia is a psychological phenomenon. The term is used to describe how the human mind sees familiar objects in abstract forms, such as animals in clouds or the man in the moon. It is also an intriguing title for the recent work of Montreal artist Nicolas Baier, whose subjects include antique mirrors, the surface of polished stone, and water-stained paper. Presented by Pratt & Whitney Canada, “Nicolas Baier: Pareidolias” is on view in the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography (CMCP) galleries of the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) from February 12 to April 25, 2010.
Nicolas Baier, "Paesine 1", 2008. Courtesy: Galerie René Blouin, Montreal, and Jessica Bradley Art + Projects, Toronto. ©Nicolas Baier
Nicolas Baier: Pareidolias was organized through the joint efforts of the artist and Bernard Lamarche, curator of contemporary art at the Musée régional de Rimouski, as well as the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and circulated by the CMCP. Following the Ottawa venue, the exhibition will travel to the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City where it will be on view from June 17 to August 23, 2010.
“Since the early 1990s, Nicolas Baier has been challenging photographic convention with his elaborately constructed digital imagery. His work is poetic, thought-provoking and playful,” said Martha Hanna, Director, CMCP. “This exhibition invites us into a world of illusions, where uncertainty is the only certainty, and where seductive surfaces and abstract imagery engage us in a search for possible meaning.”
“Pratt & Whitney Canada is proud to present Nicolas Baier’s inspiring digital imagery,” said John Wyzykowski, Vice President, Mississauga & Turbofan Programs, Pratt & Whitney Canada. “His original work is innovative and we continue to support programs such as this one that enhance the cultural life of our communities all while expressing P&WC’s own values of creativity, sustainability and advanced technologies.”
Vanitas (2007-08) – The centrepiece of the exhibition
To Nicolas Baier, art almost always acts as a mirror. “Objects, people, the smallest surface on which our eyes come to rest—everything, no doubt, is but a reflection of who we are,” explains the artist in the exhibition catalogue. “We see only what we know.”
Mirrors are the source matter for Baier’s monumental work, Vanitas (2007-2008) from the collection of the CMCP. Astonishing in scale and complexity, this mural-like piece is comprised of 40 images, each made by directly scanning the surfaces of antique mirrors, which thereby lose their ability to reflect. Our likeness cannot be seen in the scratches, cracks, holes and other markings of these damaged surfaces, but it is practically impossible not to continue to seek for whatever may constitute an image, be it a hand here, a bear’s head there, the surface of a pond or distant galaxies. In Vanitas, what is visible refutes permanence. There is always more to see; the gaze ceaselessly invests these marks with a meaning they do not intrinsically have.
More exhibition highlights
Other works in the exhibition elaborate on the theme of pareidolias. The artist’s Paesines (2008) prints suggest that the infinitely small may appear to trace shapes and forces of the infinitely grand. To produce these works, Baier scanned the polished surface of small Tuscan stones, called pietra paesina in Italy or “landscape stone.” He then enlarged the images to suggest colourful painted landscapes.
Baier saw an interesting network of lines that were left as a result of humid temperatures on the surface of paper used to cover a storefront window. By scanning and enlarging this paper to create The Formation of Clouds (2008) and The Path of Water (2008), Baier provides a record of nature creating its own image and plays with the idea of condensation as the creator of clouds and eventual rain.
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