NADINE BARITEAU

Water: an ephemeral thing. Can immaterial, flowing water effectively acquire the presence of a static object?

My artistic direction is strongly informed by the paradoxical duality that lies within the juxtaposition of still and moving images. The still image may suggest movement, but the paradox lies more in the fact that it can attract so much attention, highlighting and amplifying in movement through contrast. Furthermore, the paradox between static and moving images introduces the concepts of time and duration, since the image represents a particular instant of finite duration, captured from within a totality of motion, whereas moving images allow for events to follow their respective trajectories through space and time. The interplay between the two brings us back to the reality of the human experience of time, which, ultimately, is ephemeral.

As if in translation, my work is subject to a strict rearrangement, a reinterpretation from one material to another. It is decomposed and then rebuilt into an altogether different entity. My task of breaking down the imagery is carried out through video footage. I have scrutinized and analyzed the moving images in order to locate the sequences chosen to be transposed as fixed images. I then work on these fixed images, making silkscreen prints of them. The choice of wood as a printing surface for these silkscreens adds complextiy to the image's transformation, integrating the grainy texture of wood as a new dimension, an additonal layer that modifies the depth of the image.

Trois goutted d'eau au sol is an installation of silkscreened images printed on wood. Installed on the ground, it encompasses three individual forms. Seeing them from afar, we find it difficult to determine exactly what these forms are. Even as we approach them quietly, it is still not evident. The structures shine somewhat, and depending on the angle at which we view them, we end up seeing an image of water, of waves. Is this an actual image of is this the wood grain that creates the impression? Confusion. These forms, resembling droplets, static and anchored to the ground, seem to defy reality. They remind us a desert mirage, of water that is not there. This water, which occupies our dreams, or perhaps a future without water, sinks into our imagination and conjures up thoughts of dead water. But is it really? As we walk around the droplets, they seem to shimmer and undulate under the artificial light. The dominant silver colour, depending on the lighting and our viewing angle, provokes a disappearance of the image and, simultaneously, an impression of movement. Silkscreened onto thin, flexible wood, the image appears to break down, with its coarse, shapeless resolution. These drops of water arranged on the ground produce curves that resemble petrified waves caught in motion.

Today, sitting on the Toronto subway. I saw an empty plastic bottle rolling on the floor. Forwards, backwards... its cadence dictated by the rhythms of the subway: it reminds me of a wave of humanity. Feeling contemplative about this futile, unanimously ignored event, I begin to wish I had my video camera with me, and I tell myself that at some point in the future I'll have to reinact this newly discovered series of movements...

Biography

Nadine Bartiteau is a multi-disciplinary artist with a focus and long-standing commitment to print media. Her work is primarily rooted in silkscreen, video and installation-based mediums. Nadine completed her MFA in 2007 at York University in Toronto and in 1999 she obtained her BFA from Concordia University in Montreal. Nadine has participated in solo and group shows across Canada, in the US, Austrailia and in China. She has also recieved several notable awards as well as a residency at Toronto's Open Studio under the "Visiting Artist" category. In March of 2008 Nadine will be participating in a group exhibition entitled, "Are we there yet?" at the Southern Graphics Council Conference in Richmond, Virginia.

Nadine Bariteau is a Canadian artist originally from Montreal who now lives and works in Toronto. She is currently holding temporary position as a sessional instructor in printmaking at the University of Windsor in Ontario.