Martin désilets

In 2017, Martin Désilets began Matière noire, a procedural work that unfolds in an extended temporality, a lifetime in fact. Matière noire consists of photographing and superimposing all modern and contemporary visual works in a single digital file until complete black is obtained. According to the set protocol, the artist estimates that he will need to photograph between 100,000 and 120,000 works in order to reach his goal. In the surfeit of images, which provokes what many call an “attention crisis,” the artist offers us paradoxical works, at once ethereal and dense, which require a slowing down of the gaze.

In addition to Matière noire, Martin Désilets is working on a new series based on the engraved works by Francisco Goya, including All the Disasters of War, recently presented at the gallery, and the series Lieux-Monuments. The artist's various works are part of an approach to photography that can be described as experimental: the heart of which is made up of the accidental, working blind, blur, the hijacking or failure of specific technical parameters, protocols, repetition, accumulation, mise en abime, and a certain iconoclasm.

Martin Desilets holds an MFA from Université du Québec à Montréal, and started as a painter. Although now using digital printing and photographic processes, the mutual emulation and sometimes conflictual relationship between photography and painting continues to nourish his reflections

 

SELECTED ARTWORKS

PUBLICATION

SOLO SHOWS

2024 unRepresented by a ppr oc he, Le Molière, Paris, France
2023 “All the Disasters of War”, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany
2022 “L’index”, Galerie B-312, Montréal, Canada
2021 “Les tableaux réunis”, Museum of Art of Joliette, Canada
2021 Exhibition Center of Le Vieux Presbytère, Saint-Bruno de Montarville, Canada
2021 Library George-Dor, Longueuil, Canada
2019 “Matière noire / L’index”, Occurrence, Montréal, Canada
2018 “Matière noire, État 1”, Galerie Lilian Rodriguez, Montréal, Canada
2017 “Énigmes de l’ombre et de la lumière”, Plein sud, Longueuil, Canada 
2015 “From Dusk Till Dawn”, The Institut für Alles Mögliche, Berlin, Germany
2015 “Martin Désilets”, Agora de la danse de Montréal, Canada
2014 “Isoler – rassembler – dissoudre”, Langage Plus, Alma, Canada
2012 “Entre des fragments de choses, d’espace et de temps”, House of Arts, Laval, Canada
2010 “Les élégies”, Complexe Ex-Centris/2M2, Montréal, Canada
2007 “Le grand voyage”, Plein sud, current Art Exhibition Centre in Longueuil, Canada
2006 “Les agglomérations”, Gallery B-312, Montréal, Canada
2005 “Les agglomérations”, Exhibition center of La Sarre, La Sarre, Canada
2004 “Postcards and Small Formats”, Gallery 44, Toronto, Canada
2003 “Cartes postales et petits formats”, Optica, Montréal, Canada
2002 “Les agglomérations (extraits – première partie)”, Area SD, Beyrouth, Lebanon
2002 “Les leçons de (la) peinture”,Laval University Visual Arts Gallery, Canada
2001 “Les dictons et proverbes des îlets”, Occurrence, Montréal, Canada
2000 “ Les leçons de (la) peinture et oeuvres récentes”, Mont-Laurier Exhibition Centre, Canada
1999 “Les leçons de (la) peinture”, Circa Exhibition Centre, Montreal, Canada

GROUP SHOWS

2024 “What if it was all just a mirage?”, Bigaignon, Paris, France
2023 “Flou, une histoire photographique”, Photo Élysée, Cantonal Museum of Photography , France
2021 “Slowly Arriving, Kunsthaus Baselland”, Basel, Suisse
2021 “Photographic Materiality / La matérialité photographique”, Ottawa School of Art, Orleans, Canada
2020 “Matérialité photographique”, La Castiglione, Montréal, Canada

  • 2019 “The Process of Calculating One’s Position”, NARS Foundation, Brooklyn, USA
    2019 “Fichiers temporaires”, Centre Sagamie, Alma, Canada
    2018 “Binary/Non-Binary”, Geste Paris, Paris, France
    2018 “Vendu/Sold 10 Years”, Esse, Montréal, Canada
    2017 “Transmission”, Plein sud, Longueuil, Canada
    2016 Les Grands espaces, Regart, Lévis, Canada
    2016 “Vendu/Sold”, encan Esse, Montréal, Canada
    2012 Art Souterrain, Montréal, Canada
    2011 “Dessin à Dessein”, Galerie Lilian Rodriguez, Montréal, Canada
    2010 Exposition des professeurs du département d’arts plastiques, Espace culturel – bibliothèque du Cégep St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Canada
    2007 “En construction”, Galerie Stewart Hall, Pointe-Claire, Canada
    2006 “Territoires urbains”, Oakville Galeries, Oakville, Canada
    2005 “Territoires urbains”, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Canada
    2005 “Le polyptique et la série”, Galerie du Cégep du Vieux-Montréal, Canada
    2003 “Lieux anthropiques”, Centro Cultural Casa Vallarta, organisé par Vox, centre de diffusion de la photographie, Mexique
    2003 "La collection Prêt d’œuvres d’art. Acquisitions 2003”, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Canada
    2002 “L’histoire de l’art comme matériau”, salle Augustin-Chenier, Ville-Marie, Canada
    2002 “Artistes en création – Saïda and Tripoli”, Palais de L’UNESCO, Beirut, Liban
    2001 “Expression plurielle en Francophonie”, exposition à Tripoli, Beyrouth et Saïda, Liban
    2001 “Representing Canada-Quebec (painting), IVes Jeux de la Francophonie, Hull – Ottawa”, Musée des beaux-arts du Canada
    2000 Pass-Art, Centre d’exposition de Rouyn-Noranda, Rouyn-Noranda, Canada
    2000 “Dérive parodique”, Maison de la culture Frontenac, Montréal, Canada

DISTINCTIONS

2023 Canada Council for the Arts, Research and Creation
2023 Longueuil Arts Council, Bourse de Création
2022 Desjardins Recognition Award, Arts Council of Longueuil
2022 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Acquisition and Marketing
2021 Longueuil Arts Council, 10th Anniversary Grant
2019-2021 Quebec Arts and Letters Council / Agglomeration of Longueuil, Creation, Production, Outreach
2019 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Artistic Residency between Quebec and the State of New York
2019 Longueuil Arts Council, Creation Grant
2018 Canada Council for the Arts, Research and Creation
2017 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Research and Creation
2017 Longueuil Arts Council, Creation Grant
2016 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Research, Creation, and Travel
2015 Longueuil Arts Council, Creation Grant and Travel Grant
2015 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Travel
2015 SODEC, Assistance Program for Visual Arts Artists
2014 Longueuil Arts Council, Creation Grant
2012 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Research and Creation
2008 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Research and Creation (A)
2006 Plein Sud Grant
2002 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Travel, Section 3 (B)
2002 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Research and Creation (B)
2001 Ministry of Culture and Communications of Quebec, Canada
2001 Quebec Arts and Letters Council, Research and Creation (B)

COLLECTIONS

Photo Élysée, Cantonal Museum for Photography, France
Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal, Canada
Permanent Collection of the National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec, Canada
Pratt & Whitney, Canada
Intergovernmental Agency of La Francophonie, France
University of Montreal, Canada
City of Laval, Canada
City of Longueuil, Canada