16 juillet 2007, Marché Atwater / Atwater Market, Montréal
FITZGERALD, L.L. Landscape with Trees, 1931. Oil on canvas board. 35.9 x 43.4 cm. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Accession no. 15473. (Reproduced from Canadian Art : Catalogue of the National Gallery of Canada Ottawa. Vol. 1 / A-F. Eds. Charles C. Hill and Pierre B. Landry. Ottawa : National Gallery of Canada, 1988. p. 342)
Public art and landscape painting = L’Art public et la peinture paysagiste
The Pictorial Propaganda project was initiated by Felicity Tayler for the CRUM in 2006.
The project uses conceptual performance and the archetype of the Western tradition of landscape painting to engage the public in an ongoing discussion regarding economic value, identity, individualism, nature and the urban environment.
To pursue the research, Tayler assumes the role of a traditional plein-air landscape painter as a pretext in order to engage the general public in an open dialog. Individuals who pass the artist and her easel installed in public spaces (public markets, shopping mall parking lots, touristic areas) stop to observe the painting unfold. However, they quickly realise that she is not painting the scene infront of her but is instead reproducing existing works from important museum collections. In reaction, they share their personal philosophies with her and occasionally find something to trade in exchange for a painting.
The results of this information gathering and a chronicleing of the project can be found at www.pictorialpropaganda.ca.
The project has taken place in 2006 at the Atwater Market in Montréal and at La Centrale Galerie Powerhouse during the annual St-Laurent bouleverd street fair. In 2007 as part of the 25e Symposium international d’art contemporain de Baie-Saint-Paul and PEINTURE FRAÎCHE, at DARE-DARE, centre de diffusion d’art multidisciplinaire de Montréal… The fieldwork is ongoing and future iterations can be followed through the Pictorial Propaganda blog.
CRUM 