Is true freedom attainable? It’s a lofty query, however one artist Sandra Chevrier hasn’t shied away from in her years of artmaking. Merging hyperreal portraits of girls with the pop-aesthetic of comedian e-book superheroes, Chevrier’s work supply a recent perspective on liberation and the powers girls should destroy their cages; to sing for freedom.
Chevrier’s solo exhibition Birds on Cages at Harman Tasks NYC is the latest presentation of work and mixed-media works in her Cages collection, a rising physique of labor that highlights how grand societal expectations of girls truly restrict their actions and needs. Earlier than the exhibition opened, she caught up with Harman Tasks to debate freedom, energy, constraint, and the place these themes present up in her work.
Harman Tasks: One thing you talked about about this newest collection of works is that the cages are nearly fully burned away, giving the figures a renewed sense of freedom. Are you able to develop on this concept and the evolution of liberation all through this collection?
Sandra Chevrier: What distinguishes this new physique of labor from earlier ones is the emphasis on the transformative energy of liberation. There’s a noticeable shift within the narrative, specializing in the wrestle inside the cage and on the triumph of liberation. I’ve captured a singular second of motion and stillness inside the frames of liberation. The actions and fiery vitality of the explosions are frozen in time, creating dynamic stress and anticipation. Whereas the chaos of the explosions persists, the portraits stay poised and composed, on the verge of their ultimate step towards freedom.
In these newest artworks, I discover how folks wish to be fully free but are restricted by our our bodies and the world round us. All of us wish to make decisions with out anybody telling us what to do. Our our bodies have inescapable limits. Whereas we are able to transfer round and do issues independently, we’re nonetheless tied to how our our bodies work. As such, this concept of complete freedom is a giant objective that we can’t fairly attain. My artwork reveals the wrestle between eager to be fully free and being held again by our our bodies and minds. By means of my artwork, I would like folks to consider how we stability eager to be free with the realities of our our bodies and minds. My artworks inform a narrative of how we at all times attempt for freedom, though we always face limits and restrictions.
What makes you be happy?
The occasions I really feel probably the most free typically contain overcoming private challenges, letting go of self-imposed limits, and being true to myself or possibly simply getting older. By means of artwork, self-discovery, or private development, these moments of feeling freer have boosted
my self-awareness and confidence. They’ve influenced my artwork and impressed me to discover freedom and independence. Nevertheless, the sensation of breaking free may be fleeting. There are moments of introspection and good days the place the sense of freedom feels inside attain, solely to be weighed down by the heaviness of the world, which incorporates our discovered habits, perceptions, limitations, and expectations. The doorways of the cells open and shut abruptly. The query arises: Is true freedom attainable?
On this collection of work, the ladies’s “masks” burn away. Are the ladies setting hearth to the masks? I assume I’m questioning how a lot company these girls have in their very own liberation.
Within the “storyline’’ of my work, the ladies signify energy and power in releasing themselves. Burning the masks is a deliberate selection to interrupt away from what society expects and from issues that maintain them again. I am making an attempt to depict impartial girls who’ve management over their lives, taking cost of their tales and reclaiming who they’re with their strengths and flaws. Whereas exterior influences can form our lives, girls are seen as energetic forces for change, displaying their energy in working in direction of freedom. Burning the masks—the cages—is a robust means for them to free themselves and really feel empowered, highlighting their independence and power in creating their very own paths. For me, burning the “Cages” is a private image akin to the historic significance of “burning the bras.” Simply as burning bras symbolized girls’s liberation and defiance of conventional gender roles up to now—we’ve come a good distance since then—burning the “Cages” represents my very own insurrection in opposition to confinement and limitations, asserting my freedom and autonomy in my inventive expression.
Because you began the collection a few years in the past, numerous legal guidelines have been handed proscribing girls’s freedoms. So, I ponder about your perspective on the function of the person trying to interrupt free and the constraints and challenges society imposes on them which might be out of their management.
Sadly, we are going to at all times take care of challenges from society, resembling legal guidelines that can restrict our freedom, particularly for ladies. Even once we take two steps forwards, it looks as if we’re at all times introduced one step again. Now, greater than ever, we discover that our voice issues and that collectives and people could make a distinction by talking up in opposition to unfair guidelines, supporting equality, and preventing for human rights. We are able to create a extra honest and inclusive society by working collectively to alter these legal guidelines and promote freedom for everybody.
It takes braveness, unity, and a perception in justice and equality to make a constructive affect. It’s a fixed struggle, and it’s unhappy to see that those who wish to impose these constraints are additionally people.
How do you discover your energy?
Discovering my energy is a journey of studying about myself and feeling sturdy. It entails being true to myself, understanding who I’m, and having the ability to bounce again from powerful occasions. My energy comes from understanding my strengths, what issues to me, and what I really like doing. This helps me face challenges, overcome obstacles, and go after my goals with perception and willpower. By tapping into my interior power, creativity, and confidence, I can use my private energy to make a distinction, develop, and convey positivity to my life and the world. I discover my power in being mother, following my passions, having fun with life, and taking advantage of nice alternatives.
You additionally talked about that you’ve been exploring some new methods these days. Are you able to inform us what you’ve gotten been experimenting with? What have you ever discovered from these experiments?
I’ve at all times loved exploring this collection in several methods utilizing numerous supplies and methods. The idea of the masks has been part of my drawings since my teenage years, resulting in a steady evolution and exploration. However I’ve to confess that previously years, I used to be compelled to work on totally different methods as a result of my arm received damage. I developed tendinitis after working an excessive amount of on an easel. This problem pushed me to search out new methods to precise myself and adapt my artistic course of. Whereas I’ve a ardour for utilizing inks and watercolors, the place I can management the result to a sure extent but in addition embrace the unpredictability of water, I’ve now began experimenting with various kinds of paper. Utilizing numerous papers, significantly rice paper, provides depth and a singular character to my work. I fell in love with rice paper’s delicate and exquisite imperfections, which I showcased for the primary time final yr on the Artwork on Paper Truthful with Harman Tasks in NYC.
On one other observe, the continued exploration of my evolving collection “Cages’’ has sparked my curiosity in enjoying with textures and reduction. I’m even contemplating incorporating a sculptural or 3D factor into the masks in my artwork, which I additionally explored a bit up to now. I’m excited to experiment extra within the coming years and hope to realize fascinating outcomes!
Transferring ahead, I’ll proceed to discover the theme of liberation by way of this collection by experimenting with new methods, visible metaphors, symbolic imagery, and expressive narratives. I will even proceed to play with dichotomies, as I’ve come to know that nothing is solely good or unhealthy; all the pieces exists on a spectrum. These dichotomies add depth and distinction to my inventive exploration. I intention to make the viewer really feel understood and seen, recognizing that all of us inhabit human our bodies and minds on a planet the place Gentle and Darkness, Love and Loss, Hope and Despair, and Goals and Actuality are intertwined as buddies and foes.
I bear in mind you saying that you simply typically discover it difficult to let go if you’re making work, and that beginning this collection marked a turning level in the way you constrained your self. Contemplating how detailed the portraits of those girls are, how do you stability management and chaos in your apply? Do you make room for each?
Creating detailed paintings with exact management helps me calm down and discover peace in my thoughts. It is a type of meditation that retains me balanced and calm. The meticulous consideration to element in my portraits and the numerous hours in entrance of the easel allow me to focus and immerse myself within the work, providing a type of remedy.
Every exhibition I work on accommodates a noticeable selection. For instance, within the 2021 Oslo exhibition titled “Cages and the Insufferable Reward of Freedom,” I showcased a mixture of uncooked, textured, and dynamic items in black and white utilizing pastels, inks, and graphite alongside refined and detailed canvases. This distinction between the polished portraits and the extra expressive works allowed me to experiment with totally different methods, resembling utilizing numerous papers, inks, and watercolors. By combining extremely managed items with extra spontaneous creations, I hold my creativity in stability.
I’m additionally questioning in regards to the titles of the works on this collection. Studying them in sequence nearly seems like a poem.
I didn’t promote my soul to the satan
on the sting of silence
beneath the jeers of angels
How do you title your items? What’s behind these poetic names?
The titles are crafted with intention and poetic resonance—my work calls for to be dissected past its floor worth. I feel these titles add one other layer of depth and which means to the paintings. On sure items, you’ll discover a torn quote from a comic book e-book on the backside of a chunk that serves as a information to the viewer. Every title is rigorously chosen to evoke emotion, provoke thought, and supply a glimpse into the narrative and themes explored within the piece. Additionally, writing the titles in French is a nod to the truth that I’m French Canadian and that I pay tribute to my first language. I draw inspiration from numerous sources: my sketchbook is stuffed with a whole bunch of titles, a few of that are phrases that come to thoughts, lyrics from a tune, or quotes from a e-book.
Lastly, the exhibition is titled Birds on Cages. Are you able to say extra in regards to the title of this exhibition?
It is a title I’ve had in thoughts for a very long time and I’ve lately created a emblem with only a chook perched on the highest of a cage.
Throughout my faculty days, I got here throughout the work of photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson. I’ve at all times detested the sight of birds in cages, robbed of their capability to fly, rendering their wings ineffective. I used to be impressed by a portrait he did titled Portrait of Henri Matisse (Vence, France), the place a person sits on a chair in a small room surrounded by empty cages and birds perched on prime of them. Seeing the birds now resting on the roof of a cage symbolizes final freedom. I created a emblem for my firm, which aligns effectively with the dichotomy of my work and impressed the title of this specific exhibition. On this newest collection, the “Cages” dissolve, explode, and burn with depth, forsaking remnants that symbolize the turbulent journey of breaking free from confinement. Whereas traces of the masks stay seen, there’s a sense of renewal and freedom quite than suffocation. The artworks exude a palpable sense of satisfaction, exhilaration, and energy, akin to a chook hovering above its former cage, unshackled from restraint.
Birds On Cages is on view at Harman Tasks NYC (54 Ludlow Avenue) by way of Might twenty fifth, 2024.