COMBINE 2012: Annual Undergraduate Student Exhibition

Emy Gagné St-Laurent’s larger than life paintings Smile and All My Loving burst with luscious shades of red and glossy highlights. Smile depicts a pile of animal jaws with polished white teeth jutting out from all angles. It is difficult to discern where one set of jaws begins and another ends. The pile is placed in front of a creamy white backdrop, which creates a greater sense of depth and context for the work. White paint strokes highlight the flesh of the jaws, suggesting a wet and slippery texture.

Similarly, All My Loving depicts the chest of a bird ripped open to reveal only its moist heart. The only indications that the heart belongs to the bird are the dense black feathers that frame the painting’s obvious centre of interest. The viewer is immediately overpowered by the size of the piece, as well as the intensely vivid colours. The utmost attention to details of the multiple textures within the heart renders it disturbingly realistic and fascinating.

The skilfully painted works of St-Laurent play with contradictions to confront the viewer’s previous assumptions of beauty and social normalcy. The viewer’s reaction is assumed to be twofold. The textures, colours, and size draw in the viewer; a visceral repulsion however rewards the viewer. The de-contextualization of the subject matter forbids the viewer to simply dismiss the work as disgusting, due to St-Laurent’s purposeful beautification of the carnage by means of meticulous paint strokes. The performance of painting is one of intense study and contemplation. It is not a casual snapshot of animal body parts; it is instead a loving treatment of road-killed animals that people would rather avoid.

Given our standard of normalcy, we are ashamed, despite our attraction to these works. Beyond the lively colours, the presence of death is obvious. Violence is implied in the disconnected remains of the jaws and the exposure of the bare heart. Feelings of shame and guilt invade our sense of fascination, subduing and desperately denying desire in the attempt to be normal.

The titles of both works invite the viewer to look beyond simple shock value. All My Loving alludes to the popular, innocent Beatles song, set in tension with the gruesome death implied by the image. Titles reinforce St-Laurent’s weaving of ironic contradictions, to provoke thought and dialogue regarding our collective attitude towards beauty.