MONTREAL.- The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is showing Work in Progress (1986) by Pierre Ayot, in connection with the retrospective Pierre Ayot – Regard critique currently on at the Grande Bibliothèque de Montréal. This self-portrait installation from the MMFA collection offers a humorous and selfdeprecating glimpse into the world of this multidisciplinary Quebec artist who witnessed the transformations that shaped modern Quebec.

Pierre Ayot (1943-1995) left his mark on Quebec’s artistic landscape. The founder of the Atelier Graff, an artists’ centre dedicated primarily to printmaking, and a teacher at the Université du Québec à Montréal, he earned a reputation for the quality of his sculptures, paintings and installations, and especially for the major work he achieved in contemporary printmaking.

“With a nod to the retrospective events taking place in Montreal, from the BAnQ to the foot of Mount Royal, by way of multiple galleries, the MMFA joins in with the presentation of this major installation, 20 years after it was acquired in 1997 with an award from the Conseil des Arts de Montréal. With it neo-pop humour and conceptual self-deprecation, Ayot questions artistic practices with a frankness and liveliness that still feel very modern,” says Nathalie Bondil, MMFA Director and Chief Curator.

“Work in Progress is a fabulous means of accessing Ayot’s world of the mad forger! His entire work is very playful. He dares us to take the plunge and join him in his reflections about what distinguishes the true from the false, about what we perceive as real. It’s a playful invitation to experiment physically, reflect and discuss,” adds Geneviève Goyer-Ouimette, Curator of Quebec and Canadian Contemporary Art (1945 to the present),holder of the Gail and Stephen A. Jarislowsky Chair at the MMFA.

Ayot’s installation Work in Progress was acquired by the MMFA in 1997, with funds from the Grand Prix of the Conseil des arts de la Communauté urbaine de Montréal (now the Conseil des arts de Montréal), awarded to the MMFA for the quality of its programming and the preponderant space it reserved for 20th century art. This is one of 21 works by the artist in the Museum’s collection. It was also shown in 2001 as part of a retrospective dedicated to the artist at the Museum with the title Pierre Ayot: Unlimited.

With its many references to painting and sculpture, as well as to the artist’s studio, this carefully crafted installation of an oversized self-portrait alludes to the history of art. The work is made up of various elements, including a plaster cast of the artist’s body, a projector, a pointillist painting of Ayot’s face, and various items typically found in a studio, such as shipping boxes, sawhorses and a stepladder. These objects contribute to the creation of a scene that could not be more realistic, one that enables the viewer to catch by surprise the artist, Ayot himself, hard at work. In a way, this self-portrait installation is a legacy ensuring access to the creative realm.