Arborescence RED: Annie Briard’s snapshots of our relationship to the environment

I probably don’t need to remind you that an all-encompassing term, “the environment,” is a hot topic; the evidence is everywhere and almost everyone is touting “green” claims. But what is “the environment?” Who — and how — are we to talk about it? Visual artist Annie Briard wants to encourage this more focused discussion and has set about doing so through works displayed in her current exhibit, Arborescence RED.

And thank goodness she’s doing so! Her work, which runs the gamut from painting to performance art to old-fashioned stitching, explores the ins and outs and various boundaries we as humans see when we consider ourselves either a part of or separate from the environment. Not surprisingly, each also explores the colour red and the different-but-equally-intense emotions associated with its hues.

Briard chose red as one of themes of the exhibit and a medium for her work because of its intense emotional connotations. You don’t see a lot of red and walk away without feeling something, she says, summing up her goal for Arborescence RED at the same time.

Speaking about the show’s vernissage, Briard says, “I was happy because it seemed there was something for both art connoisseurs but also for people who aren’t used to going to art exhibitions. Everyone I talked to seemed to have very strong thoughts and opinions on what each work was saying, and how it made them want to stay around and think about it.”

Indeed most people walked away with different feelings about each piece. “RED,” a seven-minute video projected large in front of a group of meditation cushions for viewers, was enticing and frightening at the same time. Along with a large painting depicting war in a dense urban form beside a mountain range, “RED” brought chills along with a deep feeling of looking into a mirror image of certain present-day societies. Other works, including “Musings for Mother” and “A Poppy Secrecy,” evoked inner mysteries with a hint of hope.

A major highlight from the show is also the smallest in physical space — next to the scattered crochet mushrooms, of course — a claymation video installation entitled “A Plant Wedding.” This playful and oddly romantic (or is it just me and does this make me far stranger than I think I am?) video about a red-coated girl and the loving relationship she has with a plant in her bathtub is set up in the set itself, a shoebox-sized bathroom sculpted by Briard and then retooled to have one wall become the video screen.

Annie Briard, a fresh Concordia BFA graduate, is clearly also skilled in event design. Right at the entrance, Briard gently forces you to leave the outer world behind and enter hers, with a grassy felt meadow and the aforementioned mushrooms.

I asked her, How important was the overall design of the room to you? Would the show have been the same without the entrance decor?

Because the works are playful in the sense that they are surreal scenes and strange stories, I wanted to continue the fairytale context by making the room more fun. Since I’m talking about our relationship to nature, I thought it would be fitting to create a fake garden with fake grass and the types of magical mushrooms you see in fairytales. I wanted people to drop their guard and feel comfortable to go into a more innocent state of mind with which to discover the stories in the works.

Best of all? I got me my very own Annie Briard mushroom. Maybe you’d best get down to the show before I claim them all…

Where: Nexus Gallery
218 rue St-Paul O. (Old Montreal, near Place-d’Armes metro)
Runs through 15 May.
Details: anniebriard.com

Photos taken by Chris Briard.