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Bassist instinct >> Multi-talented multi-media artist Sylvain Bouthillette by KEITH MARCHAND
His often whimsical and highly expressive works incorporate wood sculpture, painting and found objects. Bouthillette likes to keep busy and 1998 was par for the course. He was chosen for the second time to appear in the large-scale Artifice 98 show, which placed the work of promising artists in vacant downtown commercial and retail spaces. He took part in three group shows at Galerie Dugazon-Couture, and held an artist's residency at the Atelier d'Estampe workshop in Lac St-Jean. He sold paintings to both the Musée d'art contemporain in Montreal and the Musée du Quebec in Quebec City. His résumé also includes dance projects, graphic design, painting, sculpture and a lot of music making. He also just returned from a successful tour of the eastern U.S. and Canada to support the release of the latest album from Montreal-based Rhythm Activism. The outlook for 1999 is no less hectic. In April, he will be featured in a solo show at Oboro, and he has been invited to submit an artist's Web site for the TechnOboro Project, the gallery's new digital media branch. He's been invited back for a solo exhibition at Galerie Dugazon-Couture in October and another artist's residency at the Atelier d'Estampe. The Langage Plus gallery in Alma (also in Lac St-Jean) will be presenting Bouthillette in a solo show. And if all this isn't enough, the coming months promise an album release by Bouthillette's former band, Bliss, not to mention continuing duties with Rhythm Activism.
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Sylvain Bouthillette is the type of fellow who is equally comfortable with a chainsaw, a paintbrush, a computer or a bass guitar. He can be seen playing bass for local vaudevillian punk-rock group My Dog Popper, while across town his multi-media installations are showcased in the city's top galleries and museums.