Xavier Labrie – Artist in Residence

Inspired by the silhouette of a bouquet of flowers he gave to someone dear to him, Xavier Labrie uses his stay to deepen various aspects of his multidisciplinary approach. Revolving around the relationship between fullness and emptiness, his experiments combine sculptures, linocuts, projections, lighting and photography. The resulting multidisciplinary works pave the way for future exhibition projects that use shadows and video mapping as a lighting system.

Interested in strong contrasts and duality, exploiting shadow and light allows him to offer a broader and more meaningful reading of his sculptural work. The photographs he currently produces go in this direction. The projection on the cut-outs creates particular staging which, framed in an adequate way, questions the materiality of its content. Labrie likes to use paper as a material rather than a medium. Immaculate and fragile, it is easy to cut and interacts naturally with light. Its flat nature implies a work in superposition which suits his research.

Based more on his experiences than on concepts, his work materializes very slowly. His paperwork involves control and precision, Cartesian qualities opposed to spontaneity. He works slowly, he thinks a lot, probably too much in fact, he says, but each project brings its share of novelty and new leads to exploit.

What inspires him?

Utopian at heart, he tries to get the best that man has to offer out of his creations. His introspective themes go hand in hand with his perceptions of life as it is, or as it should be. He particularly likes projects and constraints that come to him from an external source. These structuring opportunities allows him to address broader and unifying themes.