Down to earth

by Christine Redfern

Any mention of landscape art in Canada conjures up images of the Group of Seven, Toni Onley, or maybe Paterson Ewen. But the group show Paysages is about other landscapes, or non-landscapes.

In Roger Bellemare's piece, "Paysages (l'absence)," we see a little ripped corner of a $20 bill; the landscape part of the currency is missing. Martin Bourdeau gives us his own abstract black and white version of Manet's "Figure 62 déjeuner sur l'herbe." Sarah Stevenson's awkward mounting of her lead, nylon thread and metal wire installation "Drop" evokes the weight of a falling raindrop and the poisons it may be carrying.

Two photographs, "Going to Class" and "Bridesmaid," by George Zimbel, are a beautiful study of contrast and Nicolas Baier seduces us with "Toaster," his digital image of a toaster. At the Roger Bellemare, René Blouin and Lillian Rodriguez Galleries, 372 Ste-Catherine W. (suites 502, 501 and 405 respectively) to Aug. 18.

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