Éric Cardinal, born in Drummondville (1977), lives in Richmond, the Eastern Townships. He holds a BFA from the Université du Québec à Montréal (2001) and an MFA from Université Laval (2008). Since 1998, his work has been presented in artist-run centres, galleries, and museums in solo and group exhibitions. He has participated in events such as Kilomètr’art (Repaires/repères) (Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, 2005), Biennale nationale de sculpture contemporaine (Trois-Rivières, 2008), Art Souterrain (Montréal, 2012), and Papier 12 (Montréal, 2012), and art residencies. He has produced three works of public art under the Québec government’s policy of integration of arts with architecture.
Artwork description
This very large sculptural installation strongly marks the public space of Place du Village-de-la-Pointe-aux-Trembles. Composed of three columns of different heights – made of pieces assembled and piled up – it relies on a number of unusual and inventive arrangements to determine its nature, both material and symbolic. Erected in irregularly shaped vertical forms mounted on bases that support series of architectural fragments, the columns are distinguished from each by plays on balance of volumes, the variety of the materials (bronze, aluminum, granite), the organization of fabrication techniques, and the plurality of iconographic referents, textures, and colours.
The work’s title evokes the viewer’s relationship with time: past, present, and future. Thus, the artist links these temporalities, conveying them in layers drawn from the architectural and historical heritage of the site, its geography, and even its archaeological strata.