THEY DO DREAM THINGS TRUE
Stephen Schofield
November 12- December 19, 2026
Opening Thursday November 12
Artist in attendance
McBride Contemporain presents They do dream things true, a solo exhibition by Stephen Schofield. Around a monumental earthenware figure, scattered throughout the gallery, are human forms, some curled inward, and others stretched out. Arms and legs emerge from shell-like folds of fabric, frozen in gestures and postures that are familiar, yet curious. Bodies fold, extend, or intertwine, blurring the boundaries between tenderness and strangeness, vulnerability and abandon.
The figure in terracotta tones is La Vierge, a work Schofield created in 1983 and exhibited that same year at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, then located at the Cité du Havre. More than forty years later, it is once again presented to the public. Surrounded by a transparent veil of glass rods, the figure holds in her hands two small women diving between each other’s legs in a movement that seems to repeat endlessly, evoking an act of creation and pleasure.
As early as 1983, Schofield proposed a representation of desire and creation that challenged heterosexual norms. Today, surrounded by sculptures evoking childhood, parenthood, and different forms of intimacy, the work invites new interpretations. Its transgressive dimension coexists with notions of tenderness and attachment, revealing the capacity of artworks to take on new resonances over time.
Inspired in part by childhood memories and recollections of his sisters, the other sculptures in the exhibition extend this exploration of human relationships. Two pairs of legs raised in the air evoke play and acrobatics, in a posture that is both vulnerable and free, while a young girl stretches her arm toward her feet, as though on the verge of tipping over. These scenes evoke moments of affection, in which even the most familiar and comforting gestures take on unexpected forms.
Borrowed from Shakespeare, the title They do dream things true evokes the ability of dreams to reveal certain truths through images that defy ordinary logic. More than forty years separate La Vierge from the most recent sculptures, yet their gestures echo one another, tracing a strange kinship between bodies, memories, and experiences of intimacy.
Since the 1970s, Stephen Schofield has exhibited his drawings, sculptures, and performances in Canada and internationally, notably at the Power Plant in Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada, the Biennale de Montréal, and the CUE Foundation in New York, where a major exhibition of his work was held in 2012. His work has also been featured in numerous exhibitions in France and the United States. His works are held in many public and private collections, including those of the National Gallery of Canada, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, and the Giverny Capital Collection. Recipient of the Louis-Comtois Prize in 2004, he represented Canada during a residency at the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York in 2008.