Ito Laïla Le François Toi et ta splendide laideur

Vernissage: Thursday March 1st, at 6 pm
Exhibition: March 2 to 24, 2018
Artist’s Talk: Thursday March 8, at 7 pm

The McClure Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition Toi et ta splendide laideur by artist Ito Laïla Le François. Territory, violence, body image, and human incongruity are notions that she explores through a variety of mediums: glass, wood, ceramic, metal, leather, and textile. Leaving a poetic impression, her sculptures attempt to renew the links between a community and its land.

Toi et ta splendide laideur proposes hybrid sculptures, half-human bodies and half-landscapes that borrow from both craft and fine art. Decompartmentalizing these practices, the artist puts forth strong works, as much symbolic as they are technically actualised. Composed of glass, ceramic, wood, and textile, her large-format sculptures offer a poetic ensemble, where suffering stands alongside the sublime. Ito Laïla Le François considers herself nomadic and attempts to assess the state of the world through the experience of moving across the Earth. For the artist, we collectively treat the land as we treat our own bodies: in an abusive and self-destructive manner. This resulting harm is at the heart of her creations. Through the juxtaposition of human or animal anatomy over industrial landscapes implanted in nature, the artist attempts to express the unfailing link between humans and the spaces they inhabit. In Toi et ta splendide laideur, these themes become entrances to explore human incongruity and open the pathway to our own vulnerability.

Immersed in a strange universe, the visitor discovers works that are at times disturbing, because they scream of truth, yet are beautiful, testifying to the artist’s mastery of technique. Each work incites individual and collective questioning.

ITO LAÏLA LE FRANÇOIS lives and works in Saint-Narcisse de Rimouski. After pursuing college education in art and craft techniques, she began a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts at Concordia University in 2013. Since then, her work has been the subject of several solo and group exhibitions all over Quebec (including Montreal, Quebec City, Rimouski, Step-Îles, Baie Comeau) as well as in Toronto. She is also the recipient of various prizes, grants, and distinctions including the prestigious 2015 RBC Grant for Emerging Artists in glass art.