Ann Karine Bourdeau Leduc at the Atelier Circulaire, November 2024
Country: Canada
Residency period: November 8 – December 13
Public presentation: December 13, at 1:30, space 517
Residency project: Inspired by architectural heritage, for some years now she has been documenting the distinctive architectural features, ornamentation, and textures of buildings that stand out and have stood the test of time. These photographic images are then transposed into woodcuts, the preferred material for building and restoring heritage features. Once engraved, these wood plates are randomly printed several times, alternating layers and colors, to create unique works that juxtapose several layers of memories.
Bio: Ann Karine collects, recycles and salvages materials of all kinds, which are then presented in the form of sculptural installations combining printed images and drawings. Her work has been exhibited in Quebec and New Brunswick, and she has completed artistic residencies internationally, including at Bolìt Centre d’Art Contemporani in Girona (Spain, 2018), Frans Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee (Belgium, 2022) and Rad’art in San Romano (Italy, 2023). She lives and works in Montreal and recently completed an MFA at Concordia University (2022).
Statement: Her work dives into the reproductive relationship between objects and images as a cycle of creation. Working both intuitively and inquisitively, she integrates notions of reproduction, imitation, accumulation, and (re)appropriation into her installations to create formal compositions that are both part of contemporary design culture and also of her imagination. Developing an iconography using construction materials, color trends, and architectural and design references from various eras (European 19th century, the 80s, and today), she refers to these elements to create sculptural installations. Playfully exploiting materials and carefully arranging them to create the illusion of a free and intuitive space, some components are smashed, while others form perfectly “broken” shapes. Since production and reproduction are a never-ending cycle, her work exists in a seemingly transitory state.
The sculptural installations she creates are fragile, ephemeral, and precarious. Since reproduction is a key concept of her practice, her installations contain “copies” and “replicas” using images and textures. To achieve this, she collects, scans, and reprints samples of textures, both original and artificial reproductions. Using materials like speckled foam insulation, drywall, wood, and manufactured materials as a starting point, she builds furniture, enigmatic objects, and creates beautiful scrap piles. She blurs the line between reality and artifice, so a viewer may perceive real, functional objects in her work. However, upon closer examination, the viewer discovers glitches, surprises, and fragmented fake and real materials that highlight our conflicted relationship with objects and their function in our material culture. For decades, society has valued cheap reproduction, and through her work, she emphasizes this tendency to favor disposable over durable. Finally, specificity is an important aspect of her work, as her installations shift from two-dimensional to three-dimensional. When creating her sculptures, she utilizes the space she is in and the architectural and built design as elements that inform these assemblages.