17 October to 14 November 2009

bgl
New Sellutions

Diaz Contemporary is pleased to present New Sellutions, a show of new work by Quebec trio BGL. With this project, these dynamic artists continue their playful exploration of the contradictions in the material and the natural world. Interested in the value attached to everyday objects, and in the interaction between humans and their environment, BGL install and intervene to express their questions about our relationship to the natural through the commercial.

The show features Marshmallow + Cauldron + Fire =, which was first presented at the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver last April. A moving tree branch and a campfire made from plexiglass take over the gallery space, invoking both energetic creation and violent destruction. Nature collides with the manufactured, disrupting predictable narratives and questioning the values of society. Products become our environment and environment becomes a product, and surprising relationships appear at every turn.

Through the disturbance of normal boundaries between art and life, and skillful employment of the unexpected, BGL humorously engage with serious issues regarding our lives and our world, opening up our perceptions and inviting intellectual adventure. Through their works they place the viewer on the verge of something, in a fleeting moment of anticipation and expectation where nothing is easy to define and everything is in motion.

Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière hold Bachelors of Visual Arts from Laval University (1996) and live and work in Quebec City. They have exhibited across Canada and internationally since 1996. BGL were finalists for the 2006 Sobey Art Award and were also included in the Montreal Biennial 2007. Recent group exhibitions include: Caught in the Act: The Viewer as Performer, at The National Gallery of Canada in 2008-09, and Manoeuvres, at Galerie Toni Tàpies in Barcelona.