Art runs a Collision course at the Parisian Laundry

marc losier

Part One of a two-part MFA thesis exhibition called Collision opened Feb. 16 and runs until March 5 at the Parisian Laundry in St. Henri.

Collision comprises final works by MFA thesis candidates from Concordia University and the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). It also represents the beginning of a budding relationship between the two art schools.

“We thought it was much more interesting to not only show thesis works but also to create an interuniversity collaboration,” said Parisian Laundry director Jeannie Riddle, who initiated the idea.

Concordia is no stranger to this framework. The Faculty of Fine Arts teamed up with the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and Vancouver’s Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design to host Portfolio Day in Montreal in the new EV facility on Jan. 28. It hopes to have UQAM in the fold for 2007.

The spacious Parisian Laundry, site of last year’s MFA open house, Décalage, has been a hit with exhibitors and visitors alike.

“It’s beautiful, the perfect space to view art — and mysterious, because you have to find the work. It’s a real trip to walk through it,” said second-year Studio Arts undergrad Mandara Lebovitz, 25.

Part One’s artists consisted of Concordia’s Randall Anderson, Catherine Carmichael, Sunhye Hwang and Tomasz Szadkowski, as well as Aliette Mahé and Stéphanie Pouliot from UQAM.

Despite numerous interesting pieces, a dreamy installation entitled Oneiric Sketches by Concordia sculpture major Sunhye Hwang was the talk of the show.

Inspired by her family and hometown Seoul, Korea, the 26-year-old welded pieces of sheet metal together to construct a beautifully intricate village in the gallery’s basement.

“This is about things that my family would talk about, things about my childhood that I had forgotten,” Hwang said.

Reinforcing the familial theme, she incorporated audio recordings into Oneiric Sketches that her father took in Korea in the ’70s. The recordings featured her grandmother telling stories and her brother — who unfortunately died before she was born — playing and talking.

Collision Part Two opens March 9 and runs until March 25. It will feature Ian Campbell, Patrick Lundeen, Clint Neufeld, and Margo Ray from Concordia, and UQAM’s Émilie Morales and Nelly-Ève Rajotte.

The Parisian Laundry is located at 3550 St. Antoine St. W. and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m.