AGOG presents: Rurality by Nicole LeBoutillier

Rurality explores the theme of connectedness and how the Canadian landscape in its scale and vastness can simultaneously fragment and connect.

“While travelling I am always surprised by the distances between towns and cities and the number of houses and farms dotted along the highways before entering major urban centers. The desire to traverse these spaces both physically and psychologically to build a sense of belonging are the motivations behind the work.

The assemblages I create are of imagined landscapes that evolve from memories of shared places; of a house once lived in, childhood recollections of my grandparents farm or of constructed mind-maps that locate family, friends and children in different time zones and countries. My method, a deliberate, systematic joining together of masonite pieces with glue, nails, wire and staples is meant to evoke a temporary yet precarious bond. The work addresses feelings of isolation and our common quest to find connections in a landscape that simultaneously unites and alienates us from each other.”

About the Artist

Nicole LeBoutillier is a Canadian artist. She grew up in small towns in southwestern Manitoba. Currently she spends winters in Mexico, and summers in Spillimacheen.

Her work delves into representations of place pulling from practices of mapping, walking, and collage. Through the processes of accumulation and assemblage, on one level the work is a reflection of the physical environment and on another a distillation of personal experience. She constructs site-specific wall installations of assembled shapes which employ universal materials found from her immediate surroundings. She often chooses gouache as well as other drawing materials to use individually or in combination on these surfaces. The work unfolds over time and space that contribute to recollections of places, architecture and landscapes.