RÉPERTOIRE D'HORIZONS
From June 13 to August 18, 2002. Opening June 13th at 5:00 pm.
EXHIBITION VIEW | biography
essaY BY MIchael lachance IN FRENCH ONLY
Fleuve, Civilisation, Champs, Voyager du regard
by Sébastien Martin
Walking is a solitary act. The walker follows paths without a set itinerary, often giving himself over to reverie and finally arriving at a place where no one but him has ever set foot. By chance in his wanderings, he may happen upon another walker, also lost in his own universe. Nevertheless, they may exchange a glance, a smile, a signal bearing testimony to the brief encounter of their respective worlds. Somehow, imagination has brought them together. When Ivan Binet, the walker-artist, represents nature through photography, it is as if he is inviting us to contact between bodies – an encounter that will take place within the fiction of the montages that he presents us with. Although the collage is practically undetectable, some details pop out to inform us of the possible illusory character of the unbroken lines of pictures. Making judicious use of digital technology, Binet melts images into each other. He shows us landscapes that are familiar though unknown, and this is where the richness of his work is fully evoked. For in the very notion of landscape, we find the idea of constructions of the mind, the framing of a given reality. The artist thus communicates his own experience of reality, including, of course, the distinct subjectivity involved in the process of arranging the images. So, we are there, as spectators, reading these long bands almost as we would read a book, inventing our own short stories as we look, and in the end re-creating the walker-artist’s initial path. Imagination takes form.
Biographical Notice Ivan Binet lives and works in Quebec. He has been active as a photographer since 1992 and is known mainly for his work around the notion of landscape. Among his better-known works are the series Vases montagnes and, more recently, Lignes et horizons, which was presented for the first time during the event Trois fois 3 paysages presented by Centre VU in 1998. His work has been exhibited throughout Quebec and abroad, including Colombia, and in Mexico as part of the Latinos del Norte event. His approach to photography leads him to integrate the artist’s body in the definition of his works.
credit : Yvan Binet
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