New, impressive!
Clear definition but a puzzle as to what did the photo go through. Lots of surprises and locations and thougths.
Bravo!
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Helene’s prints translate well the electronic versions. Good calibration know-how and great choice of papers. It would be nice to see them in a huge format!
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I really liked the images, pleasing with ideas and imagination!
EXHIBITION « From Photography »
The two Montreal exhibitions – at the Café Les Entretiens in November 2010 and the Bistro Mousse Café in December 2010 – were greatly appreciated and quite happy. The images from New York, Montreal and Mexico played well with jazz and folk music.
A new season of creativity and production starts with inspiration from Paris, New York and, as always, Montreal. H.G.
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With silver and numerical photographs from New York, Mexico and Montreal, Hélène Gagnon gives a dimension to forms and colors through computerization.
Each location has its own inspiration. In New York, skyscrapers, in Mexico, volcanoes, Montreal, buildings and everything else…
Hélène Gagnon first show, in 1987, was a slide presentation from Jamaica through the United Nations Camera Club. More recently, she has shown at NDG-Art Gallery, the Côte-des-Neiges Maison de la Culture and on the walls of the Titanic Café, all in Montréal. – P.T.
Locations in our minds
Through the eyes of Helene Gagnon we see another New York, Mexico or Montreal. With the help of digital technology the iconic is inverted, repeated, and retinted. The palette of colours runs from pastel to grey with some bright reds when called for.
New York is sometimes menacing skyed and skyscrapered but the windows of the UN are awash in colour. As a New Yorker, Helene’s take on the Flatiron building in pink seems better than the beloved original. What of Times Square, join the army, wear your jockey shorts but please don’t feed the pigeons. As for religion, Helene’s New York offers us the worship of money, Minnie (mouse) and Santa Claus.
Mexico in Helene’s vision wavers in a mist of tequila and the supernatural of Mayan and Aztec origins. We are in the full sun of the playa, under our parasol or trying on a sombrero when we see a miracle at Guadalupe or a mythical being in front of traditional Spanish style churches and government buildings.
Returning to Montreal after years in New York at the UN, Helene’s ville is not the same one she left. Jazz cats have taken her metro by storm and the support cables of the Olympic stadium have trapped us all in the matrix of debt and architectural confusion. If the multiple balconies and external staircases are reassuring despite their re-incarnations, can we say the same for the omnipresent dome of Oratoire Saint Joseph? If all this leaves you perplexed, there are a series of dépanneurs for all your needs.
Who knows what makes us each unique. In Helene’s case it may be the influence of her native Thetford, her multiple voyages or an active and distinct imagination. Whatever the secret of her point of view may be, each of you is welcome to view these images from your own perspective(s). – Carl Witchel
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Helene, I love what you see and how you see.
There is a gentleness and kindness about the way you see that gave me a lot of pleasure. And your mind works in such interesting ways. What you put together and how you construct things left me very intrigued.
A lot of images are whimsical, a lot have poetry and dance and incredible movement in them. Some are somber, some have a light but acute political and social commentary. I found that in the NYC and Montreal photos, there is more of an emotional connection that comes through as opposed to those in Cambodia for example. In those, one senses the tourist passing by and I find that that limits the emotional range. I particularly like the more manipulated images because there is more of your voice, your personality in them. – C.P.
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Hélène takes a long look at what she photographs from wherever she is and brings surprises and lots of thinking. -I.L.
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I didn’t know Hélène was that good. Her photos are the work of a professional. -Irwin
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I’m very much impressed. -Ozzie
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