_Bio Born in Quebec City in 1981, Olivier Roberge lives and works in Saint-Casimir. Trained in artisanal woodworking, when fabricating miniature sculptural landscapes he employs working methods drawn from the know-how of model makers. Since 2013 his work has been shown in numerous group and solo exhibitions across Quebec and in several contemporary art fairs, including that in Saint-Lambert, where he won the people’s choice award in 2016. His work can be found in public and private collections in Canada.
_Approach Olivier Roberge makes models of miniature landscapes, through which he erects poetic worlds in which bucolic nature and technology, the imaginary and lucidity, and past, present and future meet. In an attempt to unite poles which seem by nature to be irreconcilable, his work gives material form to the tension between compatibility and incompatibility, in both form and content. In this way his models are for Roberge tools for understanding the world, by which he interrogates our connection to nature.
_Project Roberge will make three dioramas of natural landscapes, mounted on pedestals. Veritable symbolic portraits, these models will act as mirrors, showing the public repurposed reflections of the world today. In each of the microcosms of this triptych, trees – metaphors for human beings – as well as their placement in their respective ecosystems, will illustrate different kinds of individuals and social organisations. In a tacit manner, the three dioramas will discuss amongst themselves, prompting viewers to take a stance on the aesthetic and symbolic value they grant to each. Aware of the playful quality of the model, Roberge plays on the power of the object to quicken the viewer’s wonder and to touch a part of their buried childhood. In this way the medium encourages the adoption of an open attitude conducive to the search for new perspectives and to the discovery of what at first glance is concealed.
Photo credits : Geneviève Moreau