Page 183 - TOP 10 CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS - Volume 5
P. 183
Grégoire is avidly interested in ”how it’s done”, worried approach to death a productive process
collecting, different cultures, literature in its by which the artist shifts anxiety to the side of
diversity, architecture, beliefs, traditions , to expression, a way of affirming, through creation, his
politics, to art in all its manifestations of course, own power to exist.
but also to bodies and their secrets. It is no
coincidence that osteology, which studies the The engaged artist
structure of living beings, seduced him to the If for Paul Grégoire the world and its workings are
point of combining this practice with his artistic an inexhaustible source of interest, he is no less
approach. critical. In fact, through his art, he knows how
to skilfully unearth the symptoms of our society
But this marked interest in the science of bones, to bring them to light. Preconceived ideas, the
although unusual for an artist, is not so strange status quo, social constructions, technocracy,
when we consider that he brings together two routine, dominant aesthetic tendencies, political
themes that are very dear to him, namely animals classes, systems of power… in short, what we
and death. Indeed, there is in Grégoire a haunting accept, too often, en bloc since we believe that
fascination with the animal world, and this, since life is thus made, Grégoire tackles it. Avoiding the
early childhood. He is immediately seduced by pitfalls of ego and morality, it is often under the
the richness of this natural kingdom, whether guise of self-mockery that the artist denounces
by the striking variety of their morphologies, the mechanisms which, according to him, lead
their anatomy, their colors, and their mode of to the absurdities of human nature. Concerned
communication, their means of defence or their about the major political, environmental and social
habitats. So many specificities and qualities that issues that are shaking our times, he orchestrates
once they unite with the imagination, become for through his art an effort to collectively “wake up”
the artist, a hospitable space to all the delusions in an attempt to ward off general indifference.
of thought. Thus, the animal is a motif, even a
recurring medium in his work, often having a The indomitable
symbolic or autobiographical value. As for death, A sprawling artist, Grégoire likes to defuse familiar
it also settled very early in the consciousness of landmarks to constantly question himself and
young Grégoire: “When I was little at school, in question the world in which he participates.
religion classes, a sentence struck me: “I will come Passionate, his work is based on this overflowing
like a thief. ”In my naivety, I said to myself that if I need to tell stories, to create a dialogue, to
kept thinking about death, it couldn’t surprise me.*” generate active and creative communication. The
It is under this ambiguous relationship that the various means he employs in this enterprise are all
theme settles in the universe of the artist. Between part of the same system. They form this practice,
fascination and generator of anguish, death mingles plural, not docile, almost wild which opens onto an
implicitly or directly with the creative framework of indomitable psyche.
his works, forging along the way the dark humour Marie-Ève Tanguay, art historian
that will soon become one of Grégoire’s signatures.
*Grégoire, Paul, Le p’tit Grégoire, Montréal,
We can detect in this intimate and at the same time Éditions de l’œil de l’ours, 2004, p.118.
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