When two old friends, Evergon and Jean-Jacques Ringuette, play chess, it is not a game in which the players are opposed—because even as they each make moves, they come together in the construction of their photographic tableaux. In the way of still lifes, the duo gathers objects and matter that they meticulously arrange in elaborate compositions destined for the eye of the camera. From the memento mori, which sought to exhaust the potential of emotionally charged objects, their approach moved towards a horror vacui, where the resulting visual overload operates as a means of distancing the objects. Tending increasingly towards abstraction, the elements break loose from the real to become forms, motifs, and backgrounds that transport us to a world that has its own stories to tell.

Biography

Evergon and Jean-Jacques Ringuette have worked together on an occasional basis for over thirty years, many series like Ramboys or Cirque bearing witness to a complicity that has been established during this time.

In 2015, the two artists decided to renew and intensify that partnership.  They had come to realize that their duo work goes far beyond collaboration and that their art would simply not exist without the creative contribution of the other.

Today, Ringuette and Evergon co-author their works in contemporary photography under the authorship of Chromogenic Curmudgeons.

Artist, teacher and activist, Evergon (aka Celluloso Evergonni, Eve R. Gonzales, Egon Brut and Big Hellion) is a cultural icon.  Throughout his prestigious fifty years career, he has always been recognized to be at the front edge of avant-garde experimentation in the field of photography and related mediums.  An important precursor of homo-erotic contemporary art and an iconic figure of the homosexual communities, his works were at the heart of numerous major exhibitions worldwide.  They are part of a large number of private and institutional collections among which are the Musée national des beaux‑arts du Québec and the National Gallery of Canada.

Jean-Jacques Ringuette (aka Gigi Angeletti, Sangye Nyima and Slim) holds a Master of Photography from Concordia University (Montréal).  Questions of identity pervade his work that has been presented in Europe, notably Barcelone (Spain), Bielefeld and Berlin (Germany), Paris (France) and Rome (Italy), the United States, Québec and Canada.  His artworks are included in the collection of the Musée national des beaux‑arts du Québec as well as in many private collections.

Vernissage
3 May 2019 18:00 - 21:00