Online Preview: beginning March 25th at ffoto.com
Exhibition Dates: April 1 - May 6, 2017
Closing Reception: Saturday, May 6, 2-5pm
The Stephen Bulger Gallery is pleased to present "Experimental Lake" our first solo exhibition of work by Canadian artist Guillaume Simoneau.
Canada's reputation as a caring country suffered immensely when funding for scientific research, designed to benefit all nations, was cancelled under the last Conservative government. Guillaume Simoneau's photographs are like signposts in the wilderness. They are not memorial in nature but sing nature's praises alongside human handiwork.
A fugitive storyline is to be pieced together by us out of the folklore of the moment, wherein the artist and we, his viewers, find ourselves on the cusp and hungry for answers. This compendium of images is unhinged from the moorings of conventional narrative readings. They speak of travel, pilgrimage, epiphany and discovery with a simple, selfless stoicism. Time of day, experiments out on the water, and scientific equipment, all suggest an itinerary which is at once mysterious and immanent, pungent and rich.
Simoneau has stated about the project that "this body of work moves away from the omnipresent vanity found all around us these days and focuses, at once, on the outside; on the idea of common good and necessary evil. The resulting work is presented not as a series about the Experimental Lakes Area (ELA) but as a compendium of images produced on location at the ELA and therefore infused by its spirit and beauty".
Guillaume Simoneau (b. 1978, Québec) began his independent studies in photography after completing a diploma in applied science. Simoneau has exhibited his photographs internationally and today, his work can be found in a number of permanent collections including the Victoria & Albert Museum (London), the Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), and the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago). His previous body of work, "Love and War" was exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Photography (Chicago) and published by Dewi Lewis Publishing (UK). The related publication, introduced by Lisa J. Sutcliffe from the SFMoMA, was shortlisted for both First Book Award and European Publishers Award for Photography. His new series "Experimental Lake" will be published by MACK in 2017. Simoneau currently lives and works in Montreal.
