Amik(waa)

Solo Exhibition
Gurevich Fine Art, Montreal, QC
2014


In the piece Amik(waa), the form is made to resemble a traditional Shaking tent. The Shaking tent, a special cylindrical lodge or tent, was the setting for a divinatory rite performed by specially trained shamans. In Monnet’s Shaking tent, obsidian black acrylic replaces the dark woven bark, and the bent trees are replaced by copper piping.

The form is minimalist- reminiscent of Dan Flavin’s early light sculptures, clean polished materials, simple connections, an austere industrial aesthetic. The panels appear as flat screens, like the kind that litter sports bars. Black mirrored planes staring back at you revealing nothing but your own gaze. The piece sits like an ominous eight-sided black obelisk, (perhaps the one sent from space), with only slight reveals between each panel to peer into.

A myriad of fragmented light flickers up and down the interior walls, slipping out between the panels. Monnet creates this fractal ethereal light motif using a technique more akin to F.W. Murnau’s early German Expressionist films. In Nosferatu, for instance, space and matter dematerialize with the simple shifting of light and shadow. Characters grow, walls move and the sky opens up all by the interplay of contrasting black and white planes. The effect was aimed to blur the lines between what was “real” and what was “dream” or more aptly, “nightmare.” In Amik(waa) Monnet sets out to take from both visual art and film and bring us to that nether world, to see the dreams she has invoked.

Exhibiton views at Gurevich Fine Art, 2014



Amik(waa), 2014
Copper, Plexiglas, video, sound score
96’’ x 60’’ x 60’’