Born in Georgetown, Guyana (formerly British Guyana), Astri Reusch studied visual arts at the École des beaux-arts de Montréal and landscape architecture at McGill University. In her sculptures and architectural installations, Reusch explores the expressive potential of glass. In 1988, she created the work of public art La débâcle for the Musée de la civilisation in Québec City. Installed in the institution’s lobby, the imposing sculptural grouping is inspired by the accumulation of ice in the St. Lawrence River in springtime.
Reusch’s works have been presented at the Musée des arts décoratifs in Paris, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
Artwork description
The work is presented on the atrium wall of the Côte-des-Neiges Library. Although the best point of view for seeing it is the ground floor, it is also visible from the library’s basement and first floor.
The sculptural ensemble is composed of a series of glowing boxes made of bluish glass and brass rods set against a brick wall. At the lower left-hand corner of the composition, a brass rod is shaped in a spiral. Its course is interrupted by a quadrangle. A bit higher, in the centre of the composition, three triangles and two quadrangles form a grouping in front of a set of diagonal brass rods. At the top of the composition, on the far right, a group of four quadrangles topped by a bronze rod form a zigzag.
This abstract artwork creates an effect of rising movement, from its inception in the basement to its apogee on the upper floor. Its presence breaks up the monotonous, severe plane of the brick wall and adds a touch of lightness.