Cruel to be Kind
The crises affecting humanity today, whether ecological, political, or social, have brought complex philosophical and ethical dilemmas. As a result, existing in today's world inevitably implies navigating metaphysical contradictions. In an increasingly polarizing political and economic society, a radical posture is one that precisely defends the intersection. This is a position that avoids being categorical but instead considers one thing through its opposite; seeks one perspective via its obverse. It is an open posture that allows space for dialogue and discourse; it allows itself to be proven wrong. It's a disposition for empathy.
The history of Western painting has been split between aesthetic priorities, from the debate of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres's neoclassical line against Eugène Delacroix's romantic and looser colour use in the 19th century, to Clement Greenberg's formalism versus Harold Rosenberg's gestural approach a hundred years later. Such formal paradigms should not be considered mere tokens of the past or dismissed as opposing forms of pictorial practice. In fact, these aesthetic positions were substrates of conflicting utopian ideals, political goals, and social aspirations. These conflicts have shaped the history upon which contemporary art is founded, as well as society's paradigms and objectives.
Nowadays, many painters who have inherited these historical dualities choose to situate their practice at a crossroads and explore what potential lies in hybridity as a model. They open up a space within their practice for divergence, striving for change. Cruel to be Kind / Les plus beaux cauchemars is a project that precisely looks at these processes of confluence. It explores the various ways in which forms of practice may be shown to carry contradictory aesthetic structures and ideals while advocating for arenas of discourse and defending positions of compassion, amalgamation, and intersectionality.
Cruel to be Kind / Les plus beaux cauchemars unfolds into three spaces that will open at different intervals throughout the fall of 2023. The first iteration occurs at Livart and includes thirteen artists working across various painting methods and styles. Here, the exhibition explores spatial contradictions, painting's ability to represent actual physical spaces accurately, but also to imagine them differently, projecting into distant pasts and futures. At Galerie d'Outremont, Cruel to be Kind / Les plus beaux cauchemars becomes a space of experimentation that brings together the work of two artists whose aesthetic intentions fundamentally differ, Delphine Hennelly and Jeanie Riddle. Finally, the last chapter of the exhibition takes place at Stewart Hall Art Gallery, in the converted attic of an opulent mansion overlooking St-Louis Lake. For this ultimate segment, the exhibition focuses on painting practices that transcend the boundaries of the traditional canvas or panel, embracing new and unexpected planes that expand the arena of the pictorial onto the sculptural, onto the architectural.
Cruel to be Kind / Les plus beaux cauchemars is a unique invitation to consider painting's relevance, dynamism, and capacity for transformative expression. It challenges preconceived notions of the medium of painting by fostering an appreciation for the diversity of voices and perspectives within the realm of painting, from figurative to abstract, from meticulous detail to playful experimentation. The exhibition celebrates the unique qualities of painting as a medium, its ability to reflect reality, imagine alternative models, and convey complex messages through the interplay of form, colour, and gesture. It further emphasizes the importance of dialogue, discourse, and compassion by embracing the intersectionality of contrasting perspectives. Certainly, the selected artists offer a strong case for painting's potential to help us navigate the challenges ahead.