5 Montreal art exhibits that should be on your radar for March!

Man, Montreal’s art beat is a-hoppin’ and a-boppin’ this month. You got your Art Matters festival (still shakin’ a leg until March 21), Art Souterrain (catch it before it seeps back into the earth, on March 15), as well as a gazillion other individual exhibits all jump-jivin’ away. Wanna get in on the action, but not sure where to start? Here’s a sample of shows to kick off your spring culture crawl.  
 
1. Aude Moreau: La ligne bleue
At Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran
(Until April 18)
Aude Moreau, La ligne bleue (maquette), 2014 
Lordy, Ms. Moreau – you are totally on fleek. Check you out at Galerie Antoine Ertaskiran, with your forebodingly beautiful exhibit of climatic doom. As night falls, La ligne bleue traces a 65-metre high horizontal line across the neon-lit windows of New York skyscrapers (pointedly located in the Financial district). This ominous line represents the rising sea level, an illustration of what could happen if all the ice on the planet were to melt and waterlog civilization.
 
Word to the wise: Also be sure to swing by La Galerie de l’UQAM for their presentation of Aude Moreau’s La nuit politique, showcasing a body of the artist’s work developed over seven years (on until April 11).
 
2. Reynold Reynolds: Almost Six Pieces
At DAZIBAO
(Until April 18)
© Reynold Reynolds & Patrick Jolley, Burn (détail) (2002)
For the first time in Canada, Almost Six Pieces brings together five video installations by the acclaimed American artist, Reynold Reynolds. Arresting images rife with unease, Reynolds’ work “foretells a world bordering on disaster, making the very idea of progress the allegory of ruin.” Think controlled chaos, fictive-reality, and conflagrations from which only the most resolute phoenix could rise (again). 
 
3. Vladimir Velickovic
At 1700 La Poste
(March 21—June 21)
Vladimir Velickovic, Feu (2005)
Another Canadian first, right here in our hometown! Serbian Vladimir Velickovic is one of the most important artists of the Narrative Figuration movement: a “pendant” or complimentary movement to British/American Pop Art, which began around the same time in France, in the mid-sixties. The suffering, the darkness, the nightmarish depravity (plus a preoccupation with war and religion) found in Velickovic’s work often draws comparison to Francis Bacon. Make sure you take this one in (après quoi, you should go and have a stiff drink, and digest.)
 
4. Moving Still | Still Moving & Fracture (various artists)
At Art Mur
(Until April 25)
Jannick Deslauriers, from the "Fracture" exhibit
There is a lot going on at Art Mur these days. I’d urge you to seek out at least two of the exhibits: the multi-artist show, Moving Still | Still Moving, and Jannick Deslauriers’ Fracture (I am not super keen on Jonathan Hobin’s Cry Babies, as I find the ideation too facile, but you go and look and decide for yourself.) The fundamental meditations here are on change, flux, movement, disintegration and transformation. To everything, turn, turn, turn – you get the idea.
 
5. Inuit Women Artists (various artists)
At the Canadian Guild of Crafts
(Until March 28)

Kenojuak Ashevak, Bird Among the Cairnes, 2012 
Gather round, and bring your sisters (your brothers too – they’re a’ight). Come bear witness to three generations of northern craft and artistry. I’ll let the Guild’s description of the exhibit take over from here: "Although the development of Inuit sculpture has its roots in prehistory, the production of drawings and prints is a fairly recent event. Traditionally, carving was a man’s occupation and few women ventured into the field. [H]owever, the introduction of printmaking in the late 1950’s presented a new medium of expression for women. Its introduction brought forth a wealth of talent and was easily accepted as drawing (a component of printmaking) could be done comfortably in the home.  In this exhibition, successive generations of women have created original works resulting in distinctive personal styles, inspired by their environment, lived experiences, stories and legends."