Simon Petepiece’s practice addresses and derives meaning from the unique qualities and iconography of the western built environment. In works that exist between sculpture and two-dimensional media, he uses ubiquitous products like drywall, steel studs, and insulation as both symbolic elements and substrate for drawing, painting and sculpture. The assemblies that arise from this process combine an inherited material language with forms gathered from a range of personal, archetypal and historical references. The title “Clearing Corridor Chamber Cave” acts as a mantra listing synonyms of the types of spaces that inspired this new body of works.

Simon Petepiece lives and works in Montreal and holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from Carleton University. His work has been shown in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Dublin, and is part of the City of Ottawa’s art collection.

This exhibition was born from a series of conversations that quickly brought to light the conceptual intersections framing the recent research of Frances Adair Mckenzie, Alexia Laferté Coutu and Jérôme Nadeau. The installation, developed jointly by the three artists and initially motivated by their distinct material approaches, explores how the inner workings of bodies, architectural structures and technological systems intersect and inform each other. A publication will also accompany the exhibition.

It’s a meeting between two places: the Darling Foundry, his artistic residency for two months during the summer 2024, and Galerie Nicolas Robert. It’s a mental projection of the interior architecture of the two buildings. A reappropriation of the gallery’s empty space, like a scan; corners and spaces follow one another, overlapping to generate a new panorama of the space. Geometric cut-outs and other contact zones offer a new architectural vision. The feeling of space is transposed onto glass in a gradation of colors echoing the colorimetry generated by the transparency of the Darling Foundry’s frame glass.

Paris-based visual artist Justin Weiler, born in 1990, lives and works between Nantes and Paris. He graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris with honors (DNSAP 2017) and was artist-in-residence at the Académie de France, Madrid, Casa de Velazquez 2019/2020.