Thursday, January 26, 2012 | 7:00pm
Stanford Perrott Lecture Theatre | ACAD
Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière make up this Quebec city-based trio, who met while studying at Laval University. For over a decade, BGL has created sculptures, prints and installations that critique the commercialism of contemporary culture – often using humour. Having also explored larger themes such as death, truth, and the role of art, BGL aims to make the viewer fascinated and uncomfortable at the same time. BGL playfully explores the contradictions in the material and the natural world. Interested in the value attached to everyday objects, and in the interaction between humans and their environment, BGL installs and intervenes to express their questions about our relationship to the natural through the commercial. Whether simulating and deconstructing the real, or appropriating and juxtaposing recycled materials, BGL sets out to unhinge the limits of the art-viewing process, prompting one to take the time to watch for details and surrender fixed notions on the boundaries between art and life.
Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière hold Bachelors of Visual Arts from Laval University and live and work in Quebec City. BGL was included in the Montreal Biennial 2007, la Biennial del fin del Mundo in Ushuaia 2007, la Havana Biennial 2006, “sous les ponts” with the Casino of Luxembourg 2005. Recent group exhibitions include: “Maniobres” at Toni Tàpies Gallery, Barcelona in 2009, “Caught in the Act: Viewer as Performer,” at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa in 2008-9, and “ On being an Exhibition” at Artist Space, New York in 2007. They are represented by Parisian Laundry in Montreal and Diaz contemporary in Toronto.