Galerie D'Este exhibits Bourgault's prints and paintings

Last year, Bourgault joined the prestigious collective printing studio Les Ateliers Graff. For his first major project at Graff, he produced a series of serigraphic prints entitled 'Thirty-Two Steps on the Road to Self-Acceptance through the Practice of Serigraphy.' These same prints are now part of the Combat de Carnaval et Carême show.

The core element of the exhibition is collage. Much the way complex musical arrangements are conceived, Bourgault takes unrelated elements such as consumer-goods packaging and newspaper clippings and assembles them in original ways. Through these seemingly random elements and ingredients, Bourgault brings together images that show unmistakable pictorial qualities.

As the exhibition's title suggests, Bourgault’s artistic process is one of contradictions. The different levels of meaning in the works, as well as in the carefully chosen titles, cohabit in a push-and-pull relationship of chaos and order.

Mining the depths of art history, Bourgault makes references to the Middle-Ages, Dadaism, Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, offering the viewer several familiar reference points along the way through his creative journey.

Those interested in seeing Bourgault's exhibition for themselves will have to hurry, for the show ends this Sunday, March 9.

• 'Paul Bourgault: Le Combat de Carnaval et Careme' remains at Galerie D’Este, 1329 Greene Ave., through March 9. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Info: 514-846-1515 or info@galeriedeste.com