Captured beats

>> Sound seeps into still life in jazz-inspired exhibitions

by CHRISTINE REDFERN

Ten days to eat, sleep and live jazz-the beat seeps into every corner of the local scene and the visual arts are no exception. If you need a quiet moment to cleanse your aural palette between sets, there are two jazz-inspired exhibitions taking place not far from the festival’s epicentre.
Linda Rutenberg has had a long association with the Jazz fest-first as one of the official photographers, then as a photographer for the publication Planet Jazz. As the co-owner and director of Galerie Mistral from 1997–2000, she mounted an excellent yearly series of exhibitions on the work of various jazz photographers to coincide with the festival. Even two years after the final Mistral offerings, those images come to mind when I think of certain musicians or jazz music.

Rutenberg keeps up the tradition with the current exhibition of her work, Jazzartphoto. This collection includes a few of her black and white photographs and lots of Polaroid transfers. This printing technique involves projecting a slide onto Polaroid paper, interrupting the development process before it is complete, peeling the image apart and rubbing it onto another surface. Each image is left with a rough edge from the transfer process and the resulting pictures are one-of-a-kind.

The focus of the prints is the relationship between the individual musician and their instrument. “The photographs capture that one moment when the musician moves into a position where the music comes from their body,” Rutenberg says. “What I love about jazz is that it is experimental, spontaneous, instinctual, and playful. These are the aspects I’m trying to get into the photographs. I want to move away from the traditional stage photograph that could be of a rock ’n’ roll musician or an opera singer and make work that specifically reflects jazz music.”
Hélène La Haye’s Contrebasse also depicts the musicians and instruments of jazz. La Haye, a former professional saxophone player, has been painting musicians “for a long time.” Though she no longer plays, music remains an integral part of her working process. Each painting was created while listening to a specific recording over and over again, its character seeping into her work.

The main body of Contrebasse is seven large black and white paintings focusing on the double bass. Before picking up her brush, La Haye makes several drawings of the image she wishes to capture, then creates the finished product using only black acrylic paint and water, applied in a quick gestural motion. The bass was chosen as the subject matter for both musical and visual reasons. “The bass in the group forms the link between the rhythm and the harmony-it is essential to the music,” she says. “Visually, it’s the form of the bass that interests me, it’s simple but at the same time powerful, feminine and sensual.” :

Jazzartphoto is at Centre de créativité du Gesù (1200 Bleury) until Aug. 3. Info: 861-4378.

Contrebasse is at the Cinémathèque québécoise (335 de Maisonneuve E) until July 7. Info: 842-9763