By Mike Landry
Arguin's body at work for "Proposition pour quitter le sol," 2007.
This week Quebec City-based multidisciplinary artist Francis Arguin is opening two shows in two different cities, Rouyn-Noranda and Toronto, and in two different mediums, performance and sculpture. And whether he’s pouring sand over himself in his skivvies or installing large cardboard structures covered in crumpled paper his motivation is always the same: exploring the world of objects we surround ourselves with everyday.
It’s not uncommon for Arguin to work simultaneously with performance and in sculpture. He started performing during an installation while he was an art student. He wanted to do something special for the opening, so he made objects that were tools to be manipulated to transform the gallery space.
“My body becomes the territory of the action,” says Arguin. “Everything around us is disappearing. The only thing that exists for me is my body.”
Both of Arguin’s latest exhibitions expand on this theme. His installation Le salon du provisoire brings together sculptures of odd objects to expose their temporal nature. His large box shaped cardboard silhouette structures of cars easily can be misinterpreted as something else entirely, pointing towards the enduring “idea” of the car in direct contradiction to its short physical lifespan.
Other objects teeter precariously, like a tiny cardboard and paper city, on top of a tipping prism. 200 miniature Styrofoam t-shirts hang from the gallery walls. Each is emblazoned with a spray paint image or word taken from Arguin’s notebooks. These are Arguin’s daily ideas, both the good and bad, saved from the forgetfulness of the mind to be worn as an affirmation of the self.
“In every object there’s idea of the temporary. They are made with vulnerable material…Everything around us is beginning to die, even our ideas. It’s not just a comment on society, but mostly the fact that time is running by. Everything is stillborn by time.”
His yet untitled performance as part of FADO Performance Art Centre’s 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art looks at the body as a world in itself. He won’t say just how this will be expressed in his new work, although he says it will feature far fewer objects and he may even talk.
“I always made a lot of things. I started to play the guitar when I was 14-years-old, and since that moment I never stopped creating…The liberty to do things is very important to me. I don’t know why I’m doing all of this, but it’s hard for me to stop.”
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