CRAIG LE BLANC: SHE LOVES ME. HE LOVES ME NOT.

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Craig Le Blanc, "She Loves Me. He Loves Me Not.," 2016

installation view, The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford. Courtesy of the artist and The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford.

Opening Reception | Thursday, November 10, 7-9pm

Artist Talk at 7:30  

For Craig Le Blanc’s first solo exhibition at the gallery, dc3 Art Projects is proud to present She Loves Me. He Loves Me Not., an exhibition of new works curated by Bruce Johnson first presented at The Reach Gallery Museum Abbotsford in Summer 2016.

Craig Le Blanc’s works exhibit a long-standing interest in the relationship between the archetypical male, anti-idealism and façade. His work questions the burden of social perception upon gendered self-evaluation by means of divulging personal narratives in highly crafted forms. With his most recent body of work, Le Blanc strips the veil off his history of gender investigation, particularly social ideals associated with masculine identity and sport, and injects auto-biographical elements into the work.  

"Craig Le Blanc’s materials are the stuff of industry: plate glass, mirrors, industrial lights, car upholstery… things made with machines, from places traditionally associated with men. He transforms each into a ground for linguistic fragments and adages; phrases that run the spectrum of human articulation, from confession to lament to prayer. At times they are boldly stated, at others, barely whispered.

Le Blanc is investigating the mystery of his own identity, delving into his past and tracking his steps as he continues through the world. Beginning with an unflinching, even vulnerable interrogation of the personal, this work opens outward to explore questions common to us all. How are we shaped by desire and loss? Is personal control an illusion? What part of us is built from social expectations and shared anxieties? These are valuable ruminations at a time when the social sphere is saturated with unending Facebook updates, reality-show confessionals and an endless barrage of online selfies.

The artist’s sculptures, text works and installations bear a presence that is neither trivial nor deposable. His etched glass plates, cut steel shields and machine-stitched emblems ply human words with the language of the material itself, offering objects transformed by the marriage."

- Bruce Johnson, Curator  

Craig Le Blanc completed his BFA at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, NS, and his MFA at the University of Calgary. His work has been exhibited widely throughout Canada, including MOCCA, the Ottawa Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Alberta Gallery of Art. His 2011 Edmonton Arts Council public art commission, Henri, was recognized by the Americans for the Arts as one of North America’s top 40 public art pieces for the year. Le Blanc currently lives and works in Edmonton, AB and is represented by dc3 Art Projects.  

Bruce Johnson is the former Curator of Contemporary Art for The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery (2003-2013) and the Art Gallery, Memorial University (1993-95, 1999-2003). Recent exhibitions include Zeke Moores: Dispose (2013), About Turn: Will Gill & Peter Wilkins (2013 Venice Biennale) and Michael Pittman: Haunted Half (2012). Examples of recent critical texts are False Fronts: New Photography by Steve Payne (2014), feature essay – Prefix Photo 29 and Newfoundland Standard Time, for Oh Canada (2012), Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Gaspereau Press published Johnson’s first novel, Firmament, in 2010.