Julien Babin
Art history has a long pictorial tradition which brings to mind that today's painters are presented with a great challenge. In fact, it would be difficult to renew discussions about painting taking into account all that has been done. New forms of expression, that have been on the art scene for a few decades, such as technology (video, computer manipulation) or space integration (performance, installation) lead to new explorations. In that light, painting, on it's own, is nowadays considered out of the mainstream.
Aware of the interplays within the practice of painting, Julien Babin believes in his capacity and his creativity which dictates his discourse. His approach towards painting is based on integrity and sincerity. The realization of his work and his whole artistic process are, in some ways, the combination of his handywork and the representation of objects.
Vue de l’exposition à l’Œil de Poisson
credits: Guy L’Heureux
A handyman of his time, Julien Babin responds, by his own means, to the problems encountered through the use of varied materials. His desire to express himself on a large scale has led him to fabricating his own supports. In the case of the series «Les Envergure 3», the nine paintings positioned vertically, have been assembled on four large panels of wood or sheets of metal. Often they are larger than two meters in height.
The grouping of these polyptic panels adds to the danger, in the process of empirical creation, that the artist has imposed upon himself. Working on several non-attached surfaces, he mixes-and-matches them in groups of four until they are assigned their final order. He affirms that the excercise is to «influence the composition by endlessly revising the final version of the painting». As soon as Babin determines the overall assembly, his choice remains definitive. He then fixes the panels together, forcing him to work on them as a formal and picturial unit. When the work is complete, there are formal elements flowing from one panel to another. This experimental process perpetuates the choice-making process without overly controlling the final result. In that sense, intuitions and the unknown are the guiding forces of his creations.
Avalée dans l’oubli, 1996
Acrylic and mixted media on canvas and wood
225 x 270 cm
credits: Guy L’Heureux
Based on these fabricated notions, which he aspires to, he paints with non-traditional mediums known to the fine arts (except acrylic). He uses tar, lacquer, wax, latex, plaster and pieces of wood. These construction materials, that he regularly uses in house renovations, are used in an artistic way. He displays a kind of order of doubt about the application of these materials, and in so doing provides a depiction of domestic worker. They were selected as pictorial necessities. Babin forges his mediums; he superimposes acrylic to wax, tar...he juxtaposes strips of wood on the frames..., by simulating the effect of paint, Babin derives surprising factors from them. The frame also plays a pictoral role : the artist makes connections to the substractive elements of sculpture by drawing forms, scratching back the surface of the wood.
Sometimes, in the same composition, he harmonizes fragments of the frame that are left at a natural state adjacent to painted surfaces, creating a breathing space for the eye. Within these two interventions, the frame shows its' presence : it is no longer solely a flat plane destined to be covered in paint, but possesses its' own pictorial autonomy.
The encounter of mixed media displays abstract components and represented painted objects floating in space. Their presence emerges from the artist's desire to represent something tangible « to better understand painting and establish an intimate relationship between the object and how to express it» as Babin would say. The choice of iconographic motifs is deliberately limited to familiar, everyday objects : a recurrence of the heart, of the axe, of the sex, of funnels and children sweaters. The representation of these objects, as recognizable shapes, symbolically capture hints of reality. Transcending their denotations and their original signification, they weave amongst each other narrative relations that evoke sentimentality, with reference to family life and domestic comfort. These sentiments are felt according to the presence, in the same pictorial space, the juxtaposition of figuratives motifs. Considered individually, Babin asssigns them a unique definition. For example the axe is « associated with survival and family comfort, a role traditionally assumed by the father. This tool, which is an extension of the arm and hand symbolizes masculinity through effort and physical work.»
With the series «Les Envergures 3» Julien Babin presents a retro-perspective and a reflexion on his work by re-using his personal iconography and approaches used in the past. The artistic process that he pursues encompasses a new definition of his work that allows him to surpass his early accomplishments. The title of the series emerged by itself at the end of its' creation, using the third meaning in the dictionnary: openness, fullness and «the capacity to associate elements that seemingly have no connection». He chose this word because it echoed his theme: the integration of domestic objects with a diversified iconography represented by assembled panels (painted seperately). The first impression is of an absence of link within its' components. To sum it up, Babin's paintings show openness by creating a meaning, conciliating material and formal means that share heterogenity as a common denominator.
Esther Bourdages
Julien Babin was born in Caplan, Gaspésie, in 1964. He works and lives in Montréal.
| solos exhibitions | ||
| 1998 |  |
Guide de survie, Galerie Skol, Montréal |
| 1997 | Les envergures, Galerie l'Oeil de poisson, Québec | |
| 1996 | Semer le désordre, Galerie d'art d'Outremont | |
| 1995 | L'estime et l'oubli, Galerie Didqact'Art, Montréal | |
| 1994 | Un bonheur envisageable, Galerie Estampe Plus, Québec |
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| group | ||
| 1998 | Je me souviens, Galerie Duchamp, Yvetot, France | |
| 1997 | III (trois), Quartier Éphémère, Montréal Acquisitions 1997, La collection Prêt d'oeuvres d'art, Musée du Québec |
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| 1996 | Confidences figurées, Galerie UQAH, Hull In situ Mexico, Muséo Universitario del Chopo, Mexico In situ St-Jérôme, Vieux Palais, Saint-Jérôme |
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