Stéphanie Granger
Modèles d’éthiquettes
Stephanie Granger, alias the "trapper", explores the universe of seduction through the creation of multidisciplinary artwork. It is in this way the "trapper" sets her traps. Be advised that her motivations are not malicious. In fact, Stephanie Granger refers to this seduction, which depends on the world of artifice and appearance, threatens as a result of its power of reversibility. There is a danger of being seduced, and the "trapper" knows this only too well...This is why she hunts down the symbolic, (leaving aside the real universe, because in truth, seduction induces us to lose the reason which , without challenging or manipulating,makes everything blunt and clear).
Tea Time 1996
Service à thé en sucre d’orge
50x50x25 cm
photo credits: Guy L’Heureux
The artist becomes a personificationof seduction by exchanging the verb "to seduce" for the neologism "Stephany",in this way also referring to preoccupations of selfrepresentation. The "trapper" therefore has recourse to the creation of this new word in the goal of qualifying that which she considers as a meeting between etiquette and ethical. When we "stephany" these two words we get ethiquette. For Stephanie Granger it is important to question, in an ironica manner, sexual and identifying roles: "In my work I embody the feminine in manners varying from the dramatic to the bewitched ti the frivolous, as an evocation path to my identity. "
Why the title models ethiquette? The word model covers a number of significations: from hero, to mold, to the artist and his model. But here it is a question of the ethical and the correct manner of governing the daily life of a society. It is on this "agreable ethic" which reposes the works of the "trapper".
D’une fois à l’autre, 1996
Detail from the video installation
photo credits: Guy L’Heureux
When we "stephany" objects destined for a tea ceremony, we obtain the following result: Tea time, is a tea set ; a teapot, saucers, and teacups made out of sugar. The "trapper" has set a trap where there are contradiction between the molded object and the material used. We can characterize the "trapper" as frivolous, if her goal is only to snae us like flies on honey. If, on the other hand, her intentions conceal the desire to rouse the misunderstood, the game changes considerably. "What will happen if I pour tea into the interior of these receptacles? No, but you would like to laugh at me little witch? It's like a Hansel and Gretel story where I lay down my head while succombing to sweets and thereby tempting my fate. It is as though we sense a fine line between pleasure and constraints."
The works of the "trapper", are directly related. The video installation entitled From time to the time has to do with "ethiquette", all the while echoing the use of the teacups. Again the witch amuses herself by subverting the codes of representation. Here we conceive of the importance and the meaning given to the traditional gesture repeated until infinity. When situated between the two litanies of the images, the spectator is called upon to reconstitute the moment which runs between the image where the reflection of the face appears in the cup and where the empty cup descends the length of the bust of the drinker. As Narcissis admires her reflection in the water, does not the drinker-seductress in a way place herself in her own trap? Between the sonor environment suggesting a public place, and the intimacy of the body caused by nudity, the drinker drinks unceasingly this reflection of herself which seduces her.
The best way to escape the trap of seduction is it not to elaborate a situation in order to separate all possibilities of reprisals? But as seduction is behind this discourse, I doubt that our liberty would be real. "And if, in spite of myself, I end exactly where she wants me? Like Daniel in the lions' den...".
Christine FAUCHER
Translated by Tamara Watson
Stéphanie Granger was born in 1968 in Saint-Jean Richelieu and she lives and works in Montreal.
| Solo exhibitions | ||
| 1997 |  |
La Centrale, Montréal |
| 1996 | Quartier Éphémère, Montréal Galerie de l’U.Q.A.M, Montréal |
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| Group exhibitions | ||
| 1997 | Hôpital Éphémère, Paris Konschthaus Beim Engel, Luxembourg |
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| 1996 | Galerie La Centrale, Montréal | |
| 1995 | Musée de Pointe à Caillière, Montréal | |
| 1994 | Centre des Arts Contemporains, Montréal | |
| 1993 | Galerie Optica, Montréal |
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