Les Temps Inachevés [Unfinished Times]
Born in 1972, Patrick Bernatchez is a self-taught artist. His work is built like a fractal objet – where each artwork refers to a whole. Over the past decade, the subject of death has been fundamental to Patrick Bernatchez’s practice as we can experience in Lost in Time (2009 – ). We can see his take on variations of time – space-time, cosmic time, performative time, imaginary time, time travel, time distortion. The artist brings an omnivorous approach to media, making use of drawing, printmaking, painting, photography, film, installation, music and sound. He has developped diverse projects, like Chrysalides (2008-2010), notable for having demonstrated the maturity of his practice. Among other events, he exhibited at Galerie West, (The Hague, Holland), at Fresnoy Studio National des Arts Contemporains (Tourcoing, France), at Mass MOCA (Massachussetts, United States) and at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (Québec, Canada). In 2014 and 2015, his work was the subject of a major exhibition entitled Les temps inachevés at the Casino Luxembourg, Luxembourg, and the Centre Argos (Brussels, Belgium). Produced in collaboration with the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, who will feature the show in the fall of 2015, it will also travel to The Power Plant (Toronto, Canada) in 2016. Bernatchez lives and works in Montreal.
From the website:
http://www.patrickbernatchez.org/about-1/
The title of this series gives the idea that there's unfinished work yet to be completed, this often gives the idea of poverty, laziness, and imperfection. It also reflects our long term projects that don't seem to have a particular end date and the fact that many of us believe we are an endless project, with always something to improve on, work on, and ever changing. Indeed, the first man is not anywhere close to what humans are currently, due to evolution, culture, religion, etc. It also speaks to the timelessness of human existence and to the link we have with our past, present and future, yet instability of the life we have. The images also show how life changing through the passing of time, and that we cannot keep everything the same.