Gilles Boisvert studied at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal in 1958 and 1959. He then completed his training with various internships, notably with Albert Dumouchel. In 1966, he participated in the group exhibition Présence des jeunes, at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal. During his career, he produced numerous public art projects, including Les oiseaux (1973), a mural measuring 27 m by 3 m at the Maison de Radio-Canada in Montréal. His works have been in almost 200 solo and group exhibitions.
Artwork description
Situated in Parc René-Lévesque, at the juncture of Lake Saint-Louis, the river, and the seaway, the artwork is a wind-vane sculpture whose elements are inspired by tools for navigation. The base is shaped like a buoy or lighthouse. At the top, a large red frame, oriented exactly north–south, both serves as a compass rose and defines the horizon. Within the frame is a mobile silhouette of a series of human figures, depicting a person walking. Attached to its back is a series of juxtaposed rectangles that form a bird’s wing; the wing catches the wind and causes the silhouette to pivot on an axis. As it always faces the wind, the human figure becomes a wind vane. The wing motif is repeated on the four faces of the base. The walking person is a recurrent figure in Gilles Boisvert’s artworks. Here, the tableau is deconstructed: the figure is leaving the frame to explore the world.