Fragile fabric sculptures

One of Canadian Art Junkie’s all-time reader favourites, from the archives.

The work of Québécois artist Jannick Deslauriers emphasizes art’s most fragile elements, through a mass of translucent fabric.  Her delicate fibre art spins out thread sculptures that send strong messages, covering the ghosts of cities, people and of war. (Above: Piano, 2010-11, crinoline, rigid mesh, organza and thread)

From the Battlefield series: Poppies. 2008- 2009. textile installation. various dimensions (h: 10 feet) Ghosts of artifacts — tanks, pianos, fields of poppies — half-float in her sculptural installations, hollow and wavering.

“Elements from Jannick Deslauriers’ work create a discourse between fear and dreams, between civility and death, between harmony and conflict, between fantasy and horror,”  Christiane Gauthier writes in the pamphlet for the Battlefield exhibition. “Her work expresses a dream which enables us to comprehend fully the contrasts inherent in our human condition and which allows us to understand our true nature.”

These two are from the series Ghosts of Montreal.

-The ghosts of the Queen’s Hotel, 2006-07, embroidery on tulle and organza, 144″x48″x24″  

-The ghost of the Van Horne House, 2006-07, embroidery on tulle and organza, 60″x48″x24″

She has also created an extraordinary fabric tank for an exhibition.

 “The massive work is both fragile and imposing as the shape of a tank is formed from translucent fabric held together by black thread. Deslaurier’s three-dimensional drawing treats a severe subject with delicacy and beauty as the hollow formation of the tank is understood in conjunction with the textile-artifact’s sheer size.  It is as if the artist constructs the reality of war as something of a ghost in every person’s life.” – Design Boom review

Jannick Deslauriers was born in 1983 in Joliette, Québec. She lives and works in Montreal and teaches visual arts at Marie-Victorin College.

Her website is here.