Colis Suspect: Well Painted Places – Les biens peinturés

The Magdalen isles, a place of things well painted. My intention with this residency was to find a spirit within the isles. Not a ghost or haunted house, but that which draws people to this place of cold waters and winds. Is it the rugged scene, the towering dunes, fresh seafood, or an estranged air of ease – something akin to an Atlantic Hawaii? I think it’s a mixture of everything sprinkled with francophone cultural and how it has claimed this land; particularly, these lush houses of untamable colors. Houses not painted to match their wild surroundings, rather, to emulate them. And this idea extends to (almost) every corner of the isles. From their boats to the dog’s house, everything has a style all its own. Still, amongst all the beauty of these quaint homes sits the remnants of tourism and industry. Every beach has its own debris in the form of broken bottles, seashells and the forlorn bobs used in lobster fishing. It is these washed out things that form a peculiar duality, one that is starkly contrasting in southern sunsets of Havre-Aubert and indistinguishable in the northern ice of Grosse-Île. 

Monoprint(s)

Acetone & Xylene photo transfer types, 20” x 24” – (51cm x 61cm). 

Assembled material.

Various shells & sand dollars, lobster bobs, broken glass/glasses, beer cans, milk containers, foam and driftwood. 

Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec, Canada 

2020