A photographer friend invited me to a new art gallery his dad opened and what a prime location it was! Right on Sherbrooke on the strip that leads to the Montreal Museum of fine Arts between Concordia and McGill Universities. To me it means finally having a personal connection with someone I have worked with and obtained consultation on lighting at the level of gallery work is concerned and it was a chance to schmooz with other artists and patrons. I did see a familiar face or two like Bertrand who has been painting for years and lives on the plateau like myself.
He was also invited to see the work of an artist, Oscar Cahen who at the age of 37 became part of the group of eleven artists in Ontario as the only European member. Cahen died at an untimely age of 40 and was well ahead of his time as far as the stark use of colour was concerned. My impression was how contemporary some of his stuff was in 1956, of course that was a period when Bordua was active in Quebec and experimented with abstract coloured geometric shapes in his paintings. The artwork consisting of some pastel drawings sketches and multimedia paintings hinted had some repeated motifs like a beak and tail of rooster it seemed but all were very different; it looked like here was a window for the future of contemporary abstract art. For the beginning of a gallery on this strip where competition is stiff, I thought the choice of the artist was relevant and the artist’s son was there for the launch.
Congradulations on your work Jordan for setting up the gallery and giving us a better understanding of the artist.
