Catherine Sylvain
Point d'origine
2014
Presentation of the artwork
Closely connected to the neighbourhood’s history, Point d’origine pays tribute to workers, past and present. Sylvain highlights the labour of those who created Rosemont in the old municipal workshops, who worked, from 1909 to 2005, on the site of the current square and contributed to the development of Montreal. On the human scale, the sculpture includes three geometric parts resulting from a complex, rhythmic assemblage. The main part portrays a hand closed into a fist, made of smooth and textured aluminum plates. This is the worker’s hand, a versatile tool with the power, strength, and skill to build and repair everything. It constitutes the raw material of the city. Below, triangular aluminum planes accentuate the hand’s movement toward the ground. Finally, black-granite paving stones inlaid into the pavement complete the sculpture, which seems to deconstruct itself. With its angular, simplified forms, the sculpture highlights the built nature of the work accomplished by anonymous workers.
Crédit photo: Guy L’Heureux, 2014
Catherine Sylvain
Multidisciplinary artist Catherine Sylvain creates artworks that question our relationship with the world. Point d’origine is her third integration of art with architecture project, after those for the Grands-Vents elementary school, in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, and the Memphrémagog regional sports centre, in Magog. Solo exhibitions include Galerie Horace (Sherbrooke, 2006), Expression, centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe (2005), and the CIRCA exhibition centre (Montréal, 2004). In group exhibitions, her work has appeared at the Liverpool Biennale (2010) and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2008). Educated at Université Laval (BFA, 1999) and Concordia University (MFA, 2003), Sylvain teaches visual arts at CÉGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe.
Presentation of the artwork
Closely connected to the neighbourhood’s history, Point d’origine pays tribute to workers, past and present. Sylvain highlights the labour of those who created Rosemont in the old municipal workshops, who worked, from 1909 to 2005, on the site of the current square and contributed to the development of Montreal. On the human scale, the sculpture includes three geometric parts resulting from a complex, rhythmic assemblage. The main part portrays a hand closed into a fist, made of smooth and textured aluminum plates. This is the worker’s hand, a versatile tool with the power, strength, and skill to build and repair everything. It constitutes the raw material of the city. Below, triangular aluminum planes accentuate the hand’s movement toward the ground. Finally, black-granite paving stones inlaid into the pavement complete the sculpture, which seems to deconstruct itself. With its angular, simplified forms, the sculpture highlights the built nature of the work accomplished by anonymous workers.
Catherine Sylvain
Multidisciplinary artist Catherine Sylvain creates artworks that question our relationship with the world. Point d’origine is her third integration of art with architecture project, after those for the Grands-Vents elementary school, in Sainte-Marthe-sur-le-Lac, and the Memphrémagog regional sports centre, in Magog. Solo exhibitions include Galerie Horace (Sherbrooke, 2006), Expression, centre d’exposition de Saint-Hyacinthe (2005), and the CIRCA exhibition centre (Montréal, 2004). In group exhibitions, her work has appeared at the Liverpool Biennale (2010) and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (2008). Educated at Université Laval (BFA, 1999) and Concordia University (MFA, 2003), Sylvain teaches visual arts at CÉGEP de Saint-Hyacinthe.
