Public art plays a central role in the practice of Jean-Pierre Morin, who is interested in its potential to incite reflection and to generate artistic and aesthetic situations. Since the late 1980s, the artist has created about thirty public artworks that stun by their monumentality and formal beauty. Morin’s work is rooted in a deep interest for materiality and form, relating to installation art through its relationship to space and site. Born in 1951, the artist studied sculpture in Saint-Jean-Port-Joli (1968-1971) and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Université Laval (1978) as well as a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from Concordia University (1984). Since then, he has shown his work in Quebec, Toronto and the United States in twenty solo exhibitions and over 80 group exhibitions. In 2003, the Musée Régional de Rimouski showcased his work in the exhibition ” De l’objet comme poétique esthétique : Jean-Pierre Morin “, and in 2008, he won the Prix de la Fondation Monique et Robert Parizeau for his work “Trombe”, installed on the site of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
In 2016, he is the subject of a huge survey exhibition at the art center 1700 La Poste. This exhibition is accompanied by a documentary and definitive book on his career and art.
Artwork description
This artwork is inspired by the spirit of the park as a place to gather, relax, and play. It draws the gaze and invites passersby to take a break, to stop for a moment. With its five-metre height, Temps d’arrêt becomes the counterpoint to the bandstand situated in the east part of Parc Molson. Erected as a monolith, the artwork responds to the park’s symmetry. Its verticality reiterates the majestic, imperturbable vision of the many mature trees that inhabit the area. On the one hand, the choice of industrial materials (Corten steel and aluminum) and the tubular style of the sculptural composition offer a radical break with the surrounding natural environment. On the other hand, the organic aluminum shapes and the verticality of the base, which refer, respectively, to the branches and trunk of a tree, contribute to the integration of the work with the site. Furthermore, the orange colour of the Corten steel, which stands out from both summer vegetation and snow in winter, creates an essential reference point.