In one room, Mongeau\u2019s new paintings combine names of flowers and hide their common colour, which is revealed to whomever takes the time to look at them for a while. Active in Qu\u00e9bec contemporary art since the late 1970s, Mongeau has built an enviable painting and drawing career. The iconography of her works is especially identifiable by the vegetal and fruit motifs to which she has returned again and again. Nature has been her favourite subject since 1987. She has developed an impressive herbarium since the 1990s, in the form of black silhouettes that probe representation (the collection of the Mus\u00e9e d\u2019art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al has 125 specimens). She has continued to evolve her study of plants and flowers in recent paintings, forming the figures out of twisted letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"Monique-Mongeau\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_Guy-Pellerin-Monique-Mongeau_DSC_8264.jpg\")
L<\/em>\u2019herbier litt\u00e9raire de M.P., <\/em>2020, workshop view, Montr\u00e9al, 2023.
Photo: Alexandra Dumais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
As a monochromatic painter, Pellerin has striven to insert the referent back into a current of abstract painting whose distinctive feature, since early twentieth century, has been to assert the power of colour itself. Pellerin has contributed to the genre by inscribing his surfaces with colours attesting to his personal experiences (in the interview, he mentions creating the neologism \u201cchronochromaticism\u201d to describe his approach to colour). Pellerin puts into his paintings the colours of various sites or buildings, such as the streets of Amsterdam; the houses along highway 132 between Longueuil and Rimouski, which he drove with Mongeau; or colours derived from Ozias Leduc\u2019s murals in Joliette\u2019s cathedral,1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 1 <\/a> - The murals were painted between 1893 and 1894. See the beautiful catalogue Guy Pellerin: La couleur d\u2019Ozias Leduc<\/em> (Joliette: Mus\u00e9e d\u2019art de Joliette, 2004).<\/span> making a rendezvous with art history. In the studio, no<\/sup> 490 \u2013 standard(s)<\/em> (2020) stands on a long shelf, leaning against the wall. The last instalment of La couleur des lieux<\/em>, a project spanning twenty-six years, culminates in eight diptychs in warm grey, obtained by adding colours in 2018 and 2019 and seen in relation to a range of greys that train the eye to appreciate differences. In a way, the series represents a memory of all memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I greet Mongeau and Pellerin with the probably naive impression that no one yet has approached their respective practices by associating them. The day prior, they had received an email from Laval University announcing that the School of Art was celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year; \u201cWe came to the school in 1974, one year after it was founded in 1973,\u201d Pellerin mentions as though to measure how far they\u2019ve come. \u201cWe met in fine arts in 1974,\u201d Mongeau adds. Although they have lived together for ages, they do not work as a duo, as do COZIC in Qu\u00e9bec City. Mongeau explains, \u201cIt\u2019s true that we\u2019ve gone in different directions, but we had our very first exhibition together, by sheer coincidence, at Chambre Blanche, in Qu\u00e9bec City. Guy was in Boston at the time. He wrote to me about the difficulties he was having with his professors, and I encouraged him. I had even written an essay about his work, but I projected a lot about what I thought he was going to do in the future. I already knew his work really well.\u201d Pellerin recalls that the article was published by Michel Giroux\u2019s gallery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe first exhibition featuring works by both of us, in 1980 or 1981, was curated by artist Richard Mill. Monique showed eight paintings, six by six feet, in a very minimalist style, all white. In this exhibition at Chambre Blanche, Monique had the upstairs and I was in the small gallery downstairs. I showed eight small objects made out of bamboo. It was by chance; we hadn\u2019t discussed the number.\u201d The two artists realized, almost in unison, that their two worlds already resonated. \u201cBut at this time in our life, we weren\u2019t a couple yet. In June 1981, I decided to start living with Ms. Mongeau,\u201d Pellerin confides. \u201cOn a whim,\u201d she adds, concluding the story with a mischievous smile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I return to my initial question. There must be some influence, perhaps even a kind of contamination, that happens after all these years spent together, don\u2019t you think? Pellerin says that \u201cthere is a fusion\u201d (Mongeau calls it \u201cchemistry\u201d): \u201cI observed Monique\u2019s taste and thought, I like what she likes.\u201d Mongeau goes further: \u201cI think it works because we have a similar sensibility. But we each need our space, we respect each other a lot. If Guy is working, I don\u2019t look at what he\u2019s making. I don\u2019t offer comments. I wait until he asks me what I think, and then I tell him what I actually think.\u201d She adds that such safe spaces allow them \u201cnot to trespass\u201d on each other, and Pellerin remarks, \u201cWe feel free.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Instigated by artist Peter Krausz, at the time director of the Gallery of the Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts, a second exhibition brought Mongeau and Pellerin together in 1991, under a more transparent title: Deux <\/em>[Two]. Mongeau recalls that \u201cthere was no connection between the two bodies of work. I was already focused on my plants, on botany. Guy had colour everywhere.\u201d Pellerin remembers, \u201cMy entire exhibition was cadmium red. I had had the pigments made in Montr\u00e9al. Two large tondos, now in the collection of the Mus\u00e9e national des beaux-arts du Qu\u00e9bec, welcomed visitors. I had hung the paintings quite low and placed a chair between them. Monique, you also had an introductory room to your exhibition.\u201d Pellerin\u2019s tondos have an irregular, wavy edge, recalling the undulations of clay on a pottery wheel. Yet, most of them are perfectly round and have what look like grooves engraved into the coloured material on their surfaces. They\u2019ve often made me think of vinyl records. \u201cWhen Raymond Gervais2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 2 <\/a> - Raymond Gervais (1946\u20132018) was a conceptual artist and author from Montr\u00e9al.<\/span> died, I made a white tondo, White Noise<\/em>, which I gave to his spouse, Chantale Pontbriand. This homage to Raymond, who left us all too soon, represents the principle you mentioned. It inscribes the passage of time in the material, in the colour. I work on a banding wheel instead of a pottery wheel. My support doesn\u2019t have a top or bottom. This has sustained me for many years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my view, what unites the two art practices is an impulse that drives the artists to record certain characteristics of the world so as to offer their own archives of it. Beyond the potentially sonic dimension of the surfaces suggested by the grooves in Pellerin\u2019s work, an extravisual element vibrates in the herbarium from which Mongeau extracts silhouettes, distilling them until they lose their reference points. Although illusionism and virtuosity are central to her work, they are only secondary considerations. Some of her paintings and drawings focus on endangered or extinct species, clearly indicating the environmental concerns underlying her work, while others express the fragility of certain plants. As curator Sylvie Parent states, \u201cin Mongeau\u2019s herbarium, every plant is on the brink of its potential absence.\u201d3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 3 <\/a> - Sylvie Parent, Monique Mongeau:<\/em> \u00c9pine\/Peine<\/em>, trans. Ron Ross (Montr\u00e9al: T\u00e9l\u00e9graphe, 2000), 20.<\/span> This idea indicates the extent to which Mongeau\u2019s art can be linked as much to a contemporary pictorial issue as to one related to ecology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Might the two practices have in common an impulse to collect traces and re-create memories? \u201cDuring a travelling exhibition, the children that came to view it didn\u2019t see plants, but insects and all kinds of strange things,\u201d Mongeau recalls as though to emphasize the evocative power of her creations. \u201cMonique doesn\u2019t really like it for me to say this, but we are a pure product of the 1970s. When we were in art school, it was an amazing period. American abstract expressionism was on its way out, minimalism as well. We became interested in conceptual art and arte povera<\/em>. We went to New York, but our professors talked about what was happening in Europe. Process art and the Supports\/Surfaces movement came to us from these two spheres. We went to see [Robert] Ryman, Joel Shapiro, anyone coming out of pure minimalism. But Monique, you went in a different direction.\u201d Mongeau describes this early period mentioned by Pellerin differently, in what turns out to be a rare (and charming) divergence in the interview: \u201cI would say that what we\u2019ve made has had influences, but, most importantly, these are similar for both of us. Otherwise, we wouldn\u2019t have been able to keep it up for so many years. This relates to something that is our personality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps as a way to bridge the two practices, Pellerin adds that \u201cloops appear in our work. We regularly return to older ideas. My work has always straddled painting and the object, the closeness between the two. I\u2019ve recently returned to this. I come back to formulas I explored a long time ago. This doesn\u2019t mean repeating myself because forty years later, things are no longer the same. There has been an evolution in the repetition.\u201d Mongeau emphasizes that this motivates them to keep going. Pellerin continues: \u201cSome artists claim that they\u2019re always working on the same work. This isn\u2019t one hundred percent false. We come back to recipes we know; we feel we can be happy and spontaneous with them. Sometimes, we put ourselves in uncomfortable situations and break it all apart. We each try different things, then ask the other\u2019s opinion, as Monique said. Then the discussion starts. We play devil\u2019s advocate, challenge each other. Sometimes, we disagree. Experiencing this is a privilege.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last year, both artists did a major clean-up of their works on paper. Pellerin explains, \u201cWe formed a selection jury and got rid of work through mutual trust.\u201d Mongeau expands: \u201cWe need to give ourselves permission to throw things out, [since] some works don\u2019t withstand the test of time. We need to be tough. We don\u2019t like showing flaws. We need to be able to judge what we make because exhibiting also means exposing oneself.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, they act as each other\u2019s assistant. During the eight-hour journey from Longueuil to Rimouski (\u201cwe could\u2019ve gone to Paris in that time,\u201d Mongeau jokes) to identify the places that led to the paintings Pellerin presented at the Mus\u00e9e r\u00e9gional de Rimouski in 2007, Monique \u201ctook down notes, the date and time\u201d and Guy \u201ctook the photos,\u201d the two say, almost simultaneously. Mongeau adds, \u201cSometimes, I spotted certain sites because I knew what he was looking for. You also helped me, Guy, when I was investigating the Marie-Victorin Herbarium.4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> 4 <\/a> - Brother Marie-Victorin, founder of the Montr\u00e9al Botanical Garden, started developing the Marie-Victorin Herbarium in 1920. The Herbarium contains more that 634,000 specimens of indigenous and exotic plants, 90 percent of which are of Qu\u00e9bec flora.<\/span> I painted 165 plants that are endangered or on the verge of extinction in Qu\u00e9bec. I had to do a lot of preparatory work before I could start exploring the Herbarium and in order to obtain a list of endangered plants from the government. Guy came to help me because I had to take the plants out of their cabinets. We understand what the other is looking for very well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Each artist plays a role in the other\u2019s production, as the two art practices construct memories: of endangered species, of places encountered. Both practices deal with time. Mongeau admits, \u201cI\u2019ve never thought about this. Guy, you deal with time. I deal with the time before, so to speak. The research always takes a long time. I accumulate photographs, sketches, and drawings. I pay attention to detail, in whatever I do.\u201d The keen botanist\u2019s spouse adds, as a kind of conclusion, \u201cWe like systems. We\u2019ve had this in common from the start. It\u2019s probably in your DNA and in mine.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Translated by Oana Avasilichioaei<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n![\"Guy-Pellerin\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_n490_standardvuedatelierC-EXTRA.jpg\")
no<\/sup> 490 \u2013 standard(s)<\/em>, 2020, workshop view, Montr\u00e9al, 2023.
Photo: courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Monique-Mongeau-&-Guy-Pellerin\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_Guy-Pellerin-Monique-Mongeau_DSC_8234.jpg\")
In her workshop, 2023.
Photos: Alexandra Dumais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Monique-Mongeau\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_Guy-Pellerin-Monique-Mongeau_DSC_8295.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Guy-Pellerin\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_Guy-Pellerin-Monique-Mongeau_DSC_8440.jpg\")
In his workshop, 2023.
Photos: Alexandra Dumais<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Monique-Mongeau-&-Guy-Pellerin\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_Guy-Pellerin-Monique-Mongeau_DSC_8327.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Monique-Mongeau\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_Lherbier-EXTRA.jpg\")
L<\/em>\u2019herbier<\/em>, 1993-2008, 90 elements on 165, installation view, Mus\u00e9e d\u2019art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al, 2008.
Photo: Richard-Max Tremblay, courtesy of the artist & Collection du Mus\u00e9e d\u2019art contemporain de Montr\u00e9al<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Monique-Mongeau\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/378-Indians-Dream.jpeg\")
Indian’s Dream<\/em>, 1998.
Photo: Richard-Max Tremblay, courtesy of the artist<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/Monique-Mongeau-n\u00b0-28-1979.jpeg\")
no<\/sup> 28<\/em>, 1979.
Photo: courtesy of the artist
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"Guy-Pellerin\"](\"https:\/\/esse.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/110_CHR_Lamarche_Pellerin_383_CMYK.jpg\")
no<\/sup> 383 \u2013 route 132<\/em>, installation view, Mus\u00e9e r\u00e9gional de Rimouski, 2007.
Photo: Patrick Altman, courtesy of the artist & Collection Giverny Capital<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n