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Last Sunday saw Of Fire and Passion come to a close at the Musée d'art contemporain. The exhibition was intended as a showcase for 22 young Quebec artists to give them some much-deserved attention. Nice idea. The only sticking point is that the show itself got a little overlooked as it became a battleground for partisan politics. However, there were some very nice surprises in the exhibition (of this, I think we can all agree). Among these were two large, acrylic-on-plywood panels by an artist of Polish origin named Kamila Wozniakowska. After studying at the École Nationale Superieure des Beaux Arts in Paris, Wozniakowska came to Montreal and studied at UQAM, where she got a Master's degree in painting. The two paintings featured in the Of Fire and Passion show come from a series she did for her master's thesis. In a unique blending of didacticism and painterliness, these strangely compelling canvases feature a cast of characters that behave in one way, while their shadows/spectres behave in another. The works ask questions about communication, relationships and the role of the narrative. It is refreshing to see wit, technical facility and an eye for aesthetics appear at once. I look forward to seeing more of her work in the future. --Keith Marchard
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Kamila