WEEK 1
ABSTRACTION
(March 19-25, 2020)
For the first weekly theme, we were inspired by the exhibitions currently quarantined at the MAJ: Monique Régimbald-Zeiber’s retrospective, a group show bringing together the works of Maude Bernier Chabot, Brie Ruais, and Elizabeth Zvonar, and a project by Chloë Lum & Yannick Desranleau.
Within these three exhibitions the theme of abstraction is understood with a twist: the French expression “faire abstraction” (literally, make abstraction) means “to ignore” or “to gloss over.” Directly or indirectly, the exhibited artworks address the theme of women's bodies and experiences. Many of them also have in common the fact that they defeat our expectations of simple concepts such as color, abstraction and beauty.
For this first week of Quarantined Museum, we therefore suggest that you think about abstraction differently. What does "abstraction" mean to you, in art, as in life?