PATRICK BERNATCHEZ at Prefix (401 Richmond West, #124) to March 7. 416-591-0357. Rating: NNN
Montreal artist Patrick Bernatchez caused a stir in the art media this year with his eerie, claustrophobic videos at summer 08’s Quebec Triennial. Before that, his hometown artist-run centre shows – which also included gothic, nightmarish drawings – won local raves.
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Now, Bernatchez makes his Toronto debut with old and new video works at Prefix.
The main attraction is The Chrysalide Trilogy, a trio of videos displayed side by side.
The first vid, 2007’s I Feel Cold Today, documents a 70s-ish office environment – complete with discarded tie and empty bottle of Scotch – being engulfed in blowing snow.
The second, 2008’s Chrysalide, shows a man passively eating a sandwich in the driver’s seat while his car fills with water. And the third, 2009’s 13, making its world premiere here, travels through different workspaces in a single building, discovering another man seemingly suffering death by drowning.
All of these works are nominally linked by their setting – Bernatchez’s own studio building, called Fashion Plaza. But what welds them together thematically is an overwhelming sense of both foreboding and resignation. We see a consumption-happy humanity giving over to flood a slow, aestheticized apocalypse a frozen, depopulated Atlantis to come – and even a band playing while the proverbial ship goes down.
Though the works themselves are strong, the presentation here is somewhat puzzling. In a larger screening room, bits of all three videos are re-edited to form a single montage. Having both the separate videos and the edit seems overkill I’d pick one or the other.
Further, one feels the lack here of Bernatchez’s similarly haunted but highly fantastical drawings. The inclusion of some would have conveyed his scope more effectively.
Overall, Bernatchez is an artist to watch – though perhaps best after popping a Prozac or two.
art@nowtoronto.com
