Yechel Gagnon - Le cycle du présent

Permanent Public Art Installation 

Maison des aînés, 

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Québec

Yechel Gagnon is proud to announce the creation of a major work, Le cycle du présent, inaugurated at the Maison des aînés de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, a particular model of senior housing that focuses on the quality of the living environment. This 140-foot bas-relief unfolds like a frieze along the building’s main hallway, which is the axis that connects the different units. Its imagery and colours are designed to reflect the region’s history and characteristic environment, while also conjuring up the changing of the seasons.

 

Version française : ici 

 

English Press Release : here

 

 

This vibrant work helps provide reassuring surroundings for the residents and their professional and informal caregivers, and leaves it up to each individual to connect with it and form a personal interpretation. Lying somewhere between abstraction and figuration, an imaginary landscape with multiple perspectives, it interweaves elements of nature to produce various transitions. The rhythms and implicit passages of time call to mind the cycle of seasons and days.

The frieze consists of panels of colourfully stained veneers and natural wood species, hand-carved with routers, chisel knives and sanders. It suggests “moments” and atmospheres enhanced by the richness of the material used. Working in symbiosis with the site, it affords comfort, calm, serenity and well-being through the warmth it exudes, and expresses that contact with nature which we all need.

On this subject, Gagnon observes: “The work is directly linked to the nature and history of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, as it transforms the long hallway in the Maison des aînés into the magnificent, truly unique path in the Chambly Canal park that runs alongside Old Saint-Jean. When we walk along this path, we are constantly surrounded by the river and the trees.”

Bathed in natural light, and emanating a quiet energy, this work devoid of all artifice engages in a dialogue with the outside environment and offers a reminder of the beneficial effect humans receive from the visual arts.

Biography:

For nearly 30 years, Canadian artist Yechel Gagnon has created a distinctive visual language using plywood as an artistic material to create bas-reliefs. Driven to push the limits of her practice, she creates her own plywood with natural and coloured wood species of her choice. To many people’s surprise, Gagnon does not use any paint in her work, obtaining a personal language of mark making that is both sculptural and painterly. Gagnon’s artistic practice also includes emboss prints, etchings, public art installations and large-scale ephemeral drawings. Engaging different media has allowed her to nurture a fluid, dialogical process capable of informing and renewing itself across disciplines. She collaborates with curators, architects, designers, art consultants and music composers to produce works that are distinct to each environment and each project.

 

Gagnon’s works have been exhibited in museums, galleries, artist-run centres, biennales and art fairs throughout Canada, the United States, France and China. Her works have also been commissioned for diverse institutions such as universities, cultural and medical centres, places of worship and corporate milieus. Gagnon is the recipient of numerous grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, Conseil des arts de Longueuil and Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, which awarded her the prestigious CALQ Creator of the Year award. She holds a Master of Fine Arts Degree (Studio Arts) from Concordia University in Montreal and an AOCAD with Honours in Drawing and Painting from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Toronto.

Yechel Gagnon is represented by Newzones Gallery of Contemporary Art in Calgary, Cynthia-Reeves in New Hampshire, Hatch Gallery in Prince Edward County and Carol Rubenstein Associates in Philadelphia. 

Description of the Artwork:

Le cycle du présent, 2024

Carved custom-made plywood of tinted and natural veneers

42" x 1683" / 107 x 4275 cm 

Photo credit: 

Stéphane Brügger

Location and address: 

Maison des aînés, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu

CISSS de la Montérégie-Centre

519, rue Shannon, Saint‐Jean‐sur‐Richelieu, Quebec  J3A 1W6 

Public Art program: Art and Architecture Integration Policy, Ministry of Culture and communications of Quebec

Architects in consortium: 

DMG | Groupe A | GLCRM | Provencher_Roy_BBBL