ASTÉRISMES: Complexity in interpretation

Vanite is one of the many cosmic-inspired works of Nicolas Baier on display at the ASTÉRISMES exhibition.

Sometimes art isn’t meant to be straightforward, and that is definitely the case for Montreal artist Nicolas Baier’s ASTÉRISMES. As you walk into the exhibition, you are met by a variety of art pieces that could have been inspired by outer space—some are swirled with colour, others solely grey and dreary. Each piece has a different texture and exudes a different aura. The entire exhibition is quite puzzling and requires some serious interpretation. ASTÉRISMES is a complex and mind-bending art exhibition on display at the Division Gallery Montreal until Nov. 5.

Baier is inspired by the complexity of the mind. “Mostly, my interest was the perpetual ongoing, growing and deploying network made or utilized by human knowledge,“ said Baier. “Our point of view on reality, as a group, is not only altered by our position, but also by our tools and our previous knowledge.”

Vanite is one of the many cosmic-inspired works of Nicolas Baier on display at the ASTÉRISMES exhibition. Photo by Richard Max Tremblay.
Vanite is one of the many cosmic-inspired works of Nicolas Baier on display at the ASTÉRISMES exhibition. Photo by Richard Max Tremblay.

This exhibition, with its extraterrestrial-looking shapes and images in the works, kept me wondering what the pieces were about and what one is meant to take away from them. Their meanings are meant to be complex, as according to Baier. He wants viewers to take away from the exhibition that “reality is a very complex subject.”

“Reality, nature, cosmos are three synonyms, in my opinion, three words that are totally inclusive,” he said. “We think of the cosmos as something so far, while it’s the air that we breathe, it’s our flesh, our thoughts. We are the cosmos—we are the nature. The machines that we are building are also a part of nature. We are the way the universe is succeeding, having dreams about itself, or understanding itself.”

The exhibition is certainly as mind-bending as its definition, and provides a space to sit and contemplate the universe and one’s existence.

This exhibition is not Baier’s first, and growing up in Montreal, he has wanted to be an artist for as long as he can remember. He said it may have had to do with the fact that both of his parents were art teachers. Baier is a successful artist with many solo and group exhibitions under his belt. His work has been displayed at many galleries across Canada, including the Division Gallery in Toronto and St Mary’s Art Gallery in Halifax.

For more information, you can check out his website.

Related Posts