Category Archives: Sculpture

Art, Montréal, Photo Essay, Public Art, Ramble, Sculpture, Visual Art

Some Public Art on Île Sainte-Hélène

September 27, 2011 zeke 1 Comment

Howdy!

Earlier this month I was out and about on Île Sainte-Hélène (hence the video of the fountain at the Biosphere…) and while I was there I snapped some shots of some of the non-Calder public art that was there.

Part of the Korean Pavillion from Expo 67

If you want to see what it originally looked like, try this.

Bird Houses on the pond in front of the Biosphere.

Jean leFébure‘s website is here.

Sebastián‘s website is here.

Ville imaginaire by João Charters de Almeida

João Charters de Almeida‘s website is here.

Yves Trudeau’s wikipedia page is here.

My new nominee for most obscure piece of public art in Montreal. Not only is it on a part of Île Sainte-Hélène where no one goes, it is half obscured by a bush! Took me over half an hour to find it. Robert Roussil‘s website is here.

The Kwakiutl website is here. Tony Hunt‘s website is here. And Henry Hunt’s wikipedia page is here.

Wallace Fountain by Charles-Auguste Lebourg

Initially I was extremely disappointed. I was thinking it would be some grandiose fountain spewing and spouting water all over the place. Then to only find a trickle… But there is this extremely informative article on wikipedia explaining all about Wallace Fountains and their purpose. Charles-Auguste Lebourg’s wikipedia page is here.

Michel de Broin‘s website is here.

Sadly, when I was there, Obélisque oblique by Henri-Georges Adam was not viewable due to construction. I couldn’t find Migration by Robert Roussil. The Moai Head was being restored. And Oh Homme by Yvette Bisson was marked on the map, but was nowhere to be found, and does not appear on the website.

I’ve written to the Bureau d’art public asking about the three and as soon as I have any news, I’ll let you know.

Update, September 28: Oh Homme, Obélisque oblique and the Moai Head are all currently being restored. Obélisque oblique will be returned in 2013, the Moai Head within the next year, and it isn’t known when or where Oh Homme will be returned.

Art, Fountains, Montréal, Public Art, Sculpture, Video, Visual Art

The fountain at the Biosphere

September 27, 2011 zeke

Howdy!

The fountain was made in 1967 by Cambridge Seven Associates.

+This is the fifth in an occasional series of videos on the fountains of Montreal+

Art, Fountains, Montréal, Public Art, Sculpture, Video, Visual Art

The Fountain on top of Complexe Guy Favreau

September 26, 2011 zeke

Howdy!

The fountain was made in between 1982 and 1984 by Pasquin St-Jean & Associates, now a part of Groupe Roche.

+This is the fourth in an occasional series of videos on the fountains of Montreal+

Art, Fountains, Montréal, Public Art, Sculpture, Video, Visual Art

The Fountain in between Complexe Guy Favreau and the Palais des congrès de Montréal

September 23, 2011 zeke

Howdy!

The fountain was made in between 1982 and 1984 by Pasquin St-Jean & Associates, now a part of Groupe Roche.

+This is the third in an occasional series of videos on the fountains of Montreal+

Art, Fountains, Montréal, Public Art, Sculpture, Video, Visual Art

The Fountains at Square Victoria

September 22, 2011 zeke

Howdy!

Going from south to north.

Saint Jacques, looking north.

South side of Saint Antoine, looking south.

North side of Saint Antoine, looking north.

In between Saint Antoine and Viger, looking north.

Viger, looking south.

The fancy programming of the water…

The fountain was made by Soucy Aquatik in 2002, more information on Square Victoria can be found here and here.

+This is the second in an occasional series of videos on the fountains of Montreal+

Art, Fountains, Montréal, Public Art, Sculpture, Video, Visual Art

The Fountain at Square Saint Louis

September 21, 2011 zeke 4 Comments

Howdy!

The fountain was made by J.L. Mott Ironworks in 1849. More information about Square Saint Louis (also known as carré Saint-Louis) is here, here and here.

+This is the first in an occasional series of videos on the fountains of Montreal+

Art, Montréal, Public Art, Québec, Rant, Sculpture, Visual Art

Bad Public Art: Horloge solaire by André Mongeau

September 20, 2011 zeke

Howdy!

I’ve always been fascinated by Horloge solaire by André Mongeau. According to the Palais des congrès’ website “a laser beam makes the color of the fibers change according to the sun’s intensity.” That would have been so cool, if it ever worked…

Plucking from L’Action (a weekly newspaper published in Joliette), he’s an artist

Ses œuvres cherchent à traduire l’essentiel. Peintre-architecte de l’espace cosmique, il crée par une myriade de points, colorés et lumineux comme autant d’étoiles dans l’univers, une constellation de signes qui invitent à partager une magie sombre et étincelante, silencieuse et féerique.^*

Or if you prefer in The King’s English; His works seek to capture the essence. Painter and architect of cosmic space, it creates a myriad of points, colorful and bright like stars in the universe, a constellation of signs that invite you to share a dark magic and sparkling, quiet and magical. [machine translated by Google, it does a wonderful job on artists’ statements]

As far as I know it was built as part of the first phase of the Palais des congrès way back in the 1980s. Given that at the time the city was going bonkers for Melvin Charney‘s work, and the supports are rather genericly thin struts of steel, I for the longest time, thought that Mr. Charney had in fact made it. But I was very wrong. And doing a little more Googling on M. Mongeau, it appears that he lives in the wonderfully named town of Sainte-Émélie-de-l’Énergie.

And as far as I can tell, the current overlords of the Palais des congrès don’t even like it anymore, as this picture taken on axis from the Palais des congrès looking towards Complexe Guy Favreau shows, they have strategically placed trees in the way, so you can’t see it.

I vaguely remember seeing it working once, a long, long time ago.

Art, Montréal, Public Art, Sculpture, Visual Art

Georges Marciano loans art that he doesn’t own to the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal?

September 19, 2011 zeke

Howdy!

On Friday all the art from the L’Hotel got taken, because Georges Marciano, the owner of L’Hotel in Montreal, wasn’t able to pay his bills.

There were a couple of pieces of art that he owned that he had loaned to the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, I wonder how long they are going to stick around?

Three Hearts on a Rock by Jim Dine, loaned to the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. by Georges Marciano

And do you think that the bailiffs were stymied by all the construction?

Le tournesol polychrome by Fernand Léger, loaned to the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal. by Georges Marciano

And what with all the talk about corruption in Montreal happening these days, I wonder if anyone at city hall or the museum cared that there was a lien on M. Marciano’s property when he proposed lending his property (because before he loaned the statues to the museum, he loaned them to the city first…) My take on the situation back in April 2010 here. Macleans take here.

Art, Montréal, Photo Essay, Public Art, Ramble, Sculpture, Visual Art

Alexander Calder’s Man, Three Disks (L’Homme) at Parc Jean Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène

September 15, 2011 zeke

Howdy!

Earlier in the week I went to Île Sainte-Hélène (more on that later) but while I was there I became a picture snapping fool! Besides these, of Alexander Calder’s Man, Three Disks (L’Homme), I also got pictures of most of the other public art and a whole bunch of roses (who would’ve thunk?!?).

Alexander Calder's Man, Three Disks (L’Homme) at Parc Jean Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène

Anyhows, Man, Three Disks (L’Homme), by Mr. Calder has got to be one of the more iconic statues, monuments pieces of public art in Montreal. But until earlier this week, I had never seen it, due to its location and the fact that I am not a real big fan of contemporary disco music (actually come to think of it, I’ve never been a fan of contemporary disco music even in the 1970s, 80s, 90s and 00s – I think it takes me about 15 to 20 years or so before I like any dance music. If I remember correctly I didn’t get a copy of Amii Stewart’s Knock on Wood until the late 90s, but I digress).

But as I was saying, Man, Three Disks (L’Homme), by Mr. Calder is a pretty gosh darn impressive piece of work. I’ll leave it to you to do the reading up on it that can be found on the internet (one, two, three). One thing I did not know is that it was moved from its original location in 1991. At some point I’m going to have to go back to Île Sainte-Hélène (for other reasons) and see if I can find where it was originally.