Remains of a Drunken Ship
This series is a tribute to the Montreal RCA building, where I had my first live-in studio in a 400 sqft space, without a kitchen or a bathroom and a huge red Toshiba neon sign peering in my window. The building had started off feeling eerie and menacing, as there were many shady characters and unknown corners in this massive complex (I once came across a bullet hole in a door window). This building, that resembled an old ship at sea, was filled with craftsmen, tough faces and the likes of society's fringe. However, as I got to know them their darker edges soften and I discovered a handful of quirky, intriguing and kind characters. It was also a place where I discovered an independence and a joy in my painting practise. It was in this studio where I found out what painting really meant to me.
The works in this series are souvenir tile pieces from my studio floor in the RCA building, where I rearranged, reconfigured and painted on these found objects to create the series, Remains of a Drunken Ship.
