NOTICE OF TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF THE GALLERY

We regret to inform you that the gallery will be closed for a few days for renovation. As a result, we must close the exhibition for reasons beyond our control.

“I scratch the skin of dreams…/I scratch my memory…/I listen deep inside/the music of my dreams/the noise of my nightmares/the din of my words/pregnancy of the mirror/obesity of the egg/between the knots of time.”- Frankétienne, First Song, excerpt from the theatrical monologue Foukifoura (translated freely)

Livart presents a solo exhibition by artist OSKI (born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti) curated by Joséphine Denis.

OSKI’s (Olivier Vilaire) work reflects his preoccupation with the political situation in Haiti over the past three years, compounded by societal events such as the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse and more personal ones such as the murder of a man who reminds him of his father. The figures in the works of OSKI (Olivier Vilaire) evoke ghostly figures that wander through spaces whose colors are both pale and vivid – expressing a tone that is as festive as it is disturbing.

Other of his more abstract paintings exude a similar tension that seems to herald a rush toward a bursting and potentially delirious release. In indulging this creative impulse, the artist demonstrates a form of resilience at times characterized by the duality between meditative reflection and bold action as he attempts to freeze this moment in time-between commotion and externalization.

Livart thanks the Conseil des arts de Montréal and the Canada Council for the Arts for their financial support.

OSKI

Born in Port-au-Prince in 1984, OSKI (Olivier Vilaire) is a multidisciplinary artist who currently lives and works in Montreal. His practice is focused on the idea of materiality, textures, color and movement in dialogue with the expression of his Haitian identity, often through painting. Her works represent a visual language that is sometimes figurative and sometimes abstract, with colors ranging from pale to very bright. His explorations of the collective and cultural memory, the socio-political situation evokes the question of identity, a subject that recurs regularly in his work.

Joséphine Denis

Joséphine Denis was born in Haiti, raised between Port-au-Prince and New York, and currently resides in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. She is a curator and writer whose practice centers the creation and narration of BIPOC spaces. Denis is an advocate of Black diasporic art, critical engagement, and institutional transformations through which artists and publics can co-create affective networks of radical change. Her curatorial and writing approaches look for ways of conveying the specific complexities and nuances in the works of an artist whose practice is anchored and concerned with a larger communal context.