After a year studying graphic design at the Catholic University of Chile, in Santiago, Rafael Sottolichio undertook a diploma in visual arts at the CÉGEP de Saint-Laurent in Montreal in 1991. He earned a BFA in 1996 and an MFA in 2009 at the Université du Québec à Montréal. Sottolichio has had work in numerous solo and group exhibitions. He has produced a number of murals, including including La maison que nous avons bâtie (The House That We Have Built) in 2007 for the Integration of a Public Work of Art Competition and the Pere-Marquette Centre in the borough of Rosemont-La-Petite-Patrie, and the one for the Patro Le Prévost community and recreation centre, Ensemble, in 2009.
He is represented by the Lacerte Contemporary Art Gallery.
- 18 Artworks
- 1h10min
- Place-d'Armes metro station
Square-Victoria-OACI metro station
Artwork description
This mural by artist Rafael Sottolichio (assisted by Olivier Roy) celebrates the World Trade Centre Montréal’s 20th anniversary.
The composition of the work presents, on the left, the modern building to the south, and on the right its façade on St. Antoine Street. The kaleidoscope at the centre of the mural is composed of the glass walls of the atrium, creating an architectural visual game in the corner of the two walls. The silhouettes of the passerby become the characters of this mise-en-scène, and live within the décor of the shifting angles.
Commerce is presented in the mural in relation to public space, a place where the ideas and the dreams of the individuals or groups of people are expressed and take on a life of their own in the eyes of others. The ideas come together in synergy and intertwine: this dynamic makes the public space a fundamental element of commerce, underlining the humanity at the heart of the notion of exchange.