12.09.1995 | 01.06.1996
PIERRE DORION | PIERRE DORION

Since 1990, Montreal artist Pierre Dorion has been developing a series of work that reflects the tension that exists between different traditions of painting. Taking the form of self-portraits, these works highlight painting’s representational functions while referring to traditions of abstraction which emphasize, instead, the priority of the act of painting. Marking a significant departure from traditional portraiture, the figure in Dorion’s work eludes any revelation within an ambiguous space. In the past two years, Dorion has begun to incorporate found objects and materials onto the surfaces of his paintings. This exhibition featured a selection of the most recent self-portraits and introduced a new body of works which shift from representation of the interior space of the self-portraits to specific exterior places and their relationship to history.

Curator: Joan Stebbins
Organized and circulated by the Art Gallery of York University.