A multi-media artist, Caroline Ariane Bergeron explores printed art, textile, ceramics and drawing in order to create a sober visual and a monochrome palette. Her work evokes delicacy, discretion and subtlety. Caroline favors slow working methods and prefers analog technologies to their contemporary equivalent. Through her conscientious approach, she offers an alternative approach to the ideology of growth that punctuates the modern world.
An essay follows the photos.
Caroline Ariane Bergeron's work evokes delicacy, discretion and subtlety. Her artistic practice is aesthetically modern yet it belongs to the past by the transmission of the methods used. She uses printing, textile, ceramics and drawing to create a sober visual and a monochrome palette. For each project, the final piece is the culmination of the artist's work, but understanding her approach, which remains invisible to the eye, becomes essential to fully grasping the final result.
Caroline favors slow working methods, and prefers analog technologies to their contemporary equivalent. Through her conscientious method, she offers an alternative approach to the ideology of growth that punctuates the modern world.
This is evident in her latest work titled Les Marches Harmoniques, exhibited at Arprim: Centre d’essai en art impression in Montreal last January and February. This is a small hand printed book that measures 5x8 inches. Inside, the letter i is reproduced meticulously on 48 pages in various patterns. She created 40 copies, typed one at a time; work that lasted two years. At first, she wonders if she should correct the few key errors she’s made along the way, but eventually she realizes that these errors make each copy unique.
I chose to interpret these mistakes as a symbol of acceptance and resilience, and to integrate them into my work. Typing errors constitute the “false notes” of this edition, and make each copy unique and different from the others.
The constant and sonorous repetition of the letter i hitting the paper quickly took on the appearance of a solitary meditation or a mantra. The capital letter i,repeated at varied and regular intervals, throughout the pages of this book presents rhythmic patterns resembling those of weaving.
I am an introverted person, I have a restless temperament but my practice allows me, through the repetitive gestures of my work, to create a ritual. When I'm at work, I don't need to think or make decisions, I make gestures and the repetition of these gestures becomes almost a meditation.
The scenography of the exhibition offers us a window on this delicate work; she installs key objects, representing each step of the meticulous approach.
Following a bachelor's degree in Visual Arts at Concordia completed in 2013, Caroline developed her practice in printed arts at Atelier Circulaire in Montreal. Her desire to work from home coincided with the pandemic. The need to go to the studio was replaced by a desire to be alone in her environment.
By visiting her living and working space, I discover a need for beauty and harmony represented in all the objects of the apartment. Her astrological sign is the bull; she is pragmatic and seeks harmony in the concrete objects and matter. She is looking for an environment that speaks to the senses. The objects have lived, have the patina of time; each one has its own story but Caroline can reinterpret each, guided by her intuition.
Some objects are part of family history; her mother drew but it is above all her grandmother who left an imprint on her artistic work. She was housewife working with her hands, particularly interested in the artisanal technique of Fléché, a traditional weaving technique without a loom. She herself had created her own book about this technique; each copy made and bound by hand.
Caroline's work is both intuitive and intellectual. Introverted and sensitive, she is not in the rush to market her work. Rather, she applies herself to seeking the support of the various arts councils of Canada and Quebec to bring her projects to fruition. She exhibits her work in several cultural centers and participates in various artist residencies.
She is planning her next project: another artist's book accompanied by a video section representing one of the 4 themes she seeks to explore: Music, Landscape, Matter, Intimacy. Each of the themes will have its own removable artist's book which at the end of the exhibition will become a book again.
Caroline Ariane Bergeron's work is motivated by a need to imagine her version of beauty and harmony where the smallest details are important. It’s an artistic approach and ultimately a way of life. She can't imagine doing anything else.
Caroline Ariane Bergeron is a Montreal artist.
