Pondering The Point Gallery Exhibition
“Pondering The Point” is the title of the exhibition that was displayed in the Henry Lehmann Gallery throughout the month of November 2019.
Artists Mélusine Abram, Claudia Bletea-Filat, Romy Denoncourt, Stéphanie Millette and Clara Riga came together to display their self-portraits in varied styles, but all using the technique of pointillism.
Pointillism is a drawing technique where small distinct dots are applied in a pattern to form an image. It is a very time consuming process, and one must have lots of patience and high attention to detail if they wish to dapple in this technique.
The artists juxtaposed this technique against blank white paper in order to highlight the process in which this work was created.
The following is the curatorial statement for the exhibition:
“For this show, each artist has created a self-portrait. All of these pieces are produced using a pointillist technique. Each of these works deals with the gaze of the subject, and how this gaze occupies the empty space surrounding the self-portrait. Each artist plays especially with empty, white space in their self-portraits. The juxtaposition of the emptiness of the blank paper and the intensely detailed clusters of dots that compose each portrait creates contrast, which leads the viewer to reflect on the place of the subject in their surrounding environment.
All of the artists’ techniques for emulating realism are different, yet display an acute attention to detail and rendering for creating dimensionality. These works are meant to draw the viewer in: they simply look realistic from afar, and their detailed nature can only be seen in close proximity. The fact that the viewer needs to get close to the works leads to a reflection on the process that was involved in their creation. Realistic renderings created by minuscule markings serve as representations of all the tiny parts that make a whole, and focus on the lengthy, self-reflective and meditative process of creating these pieces.”
When speaking with one of the artists Mélusine Abram about her thoughts of the exhibition, she said having her work exhibited in the Henry Lehman Gallery was such a beautiful moment for her. She felt so proud to see this come together but also “so proud of my peers and am honoured to have shared this moment with them.”
She went on to say that she was honoured to have worked with the curator India-Lynn Upshaw-Ruffner and co-curator Clara Riga of the Henry Lehman Gallery to put this show together, and would like to thank them, and her peers, to have made this possible.
“Pondering The Point” is no longer up in the gallery, but their final show of the semester “Reclamation” will be on display until December 6th. Don’t miss the opportunity to see it!
Written by: India-Lynn Upshaw-Ruffner
