Hidden in Plain Sight: Yves Tessier
McBride Contemporain is proud to present Hidden in Plain Sight, Yves Tessier's second solo exhibition at the gallery. In this new body of work, Tessier uncovers the subtle beauty and hidden complexity of everyday scenes and still life compositions. Renowned for his mastery of casein paint, he creates these works on aluminium or wood panels, a technique that requires an in-depth knowledge of pigments and gives each work a unique brilliance and luminosity.
In this meticulously composed universe, objects meld into one another: a pear doubles up as a light bulb, an aloe leaf slips into the handle of a French press, while the reflection on a cocktail shaker is echoed in the silhouette of a straw. Some of the works feature human figures whose intense gaze reflects our own observation. A woman glances over her shoulder in a pictorial space so tight that her feet and hands skim the edges of the artwork, while elsewhere three figures face each other, engaged in a silent dialogue.
The composition is precise, the forms reduced to their essence, with colour playing a fundamental role: not to imitate real life, but to activate the pictorial space. This apparent simplicity is, in fact, highly complex. After drawing detailed studies in pencil and eraser, the artist retains only the lines necessary to the ensemble. Rejecting illusionistic perspective and cast shadows, Tessier favours a rigorous organisation of the picture plane to enhance its luminosity. Every hue, every line, every contour is meticulously considered, each one carefully calibrated to contribute to the overall visual harmony. The composition obeys a logic of subtle balance, where each element dialogues with the whole, without excess or redundancy. Through these interplays of resonances and glances, Tessier creates works that invites quiet contemplation, revealing their layered complexity and subtle sophistication.
Born in 1955 in Montreal, where he currently lives and works, Yves Tessier spent over thirty years in New York, during which time his work was profoundly influenced by the city's rich culture. In recent years, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and the National Bank of Canada have each acquired major works by the artist, while the virtual initiative Platform: New York, by David Zwirner, has highlighted Tessier’s practice twice. His work has been reviewed in some of North America's most influential publications, including Art in America, Frieze, The New York Times, Akimbo, The National Post and Le Devoir. Yves Tessier has had numerous solo and group exhibitions, notably at SHRINE, his representative gallery in New York, as well as at James Fuentes, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Optica, SKOL, Galerie Laroche/Joncas and Art 45.
