Public art as sculpture and landscape at parc des Rapides
Manifesting the unique strengths of artist Jacques Bilodeau and landscape architects Claude Cormier + Associés, the public art piece at parc des Rapides is an amalgam of sculpture and landscape that embodies the specificity of the site, recalling the presence of a former dam and the spectacular Lachine Rapids nearby.
Paradoxically chaotic and coherent, Au Grand Dam evokes the drama of the rapids as well as the compression and folding of the river’s ice floes. Shifting strata of white marble and precast concrete capture a dynamic moment on the park horizon, amplified through a discrete array of LED lighting that cut and amplify the presence of the seemingly unstable forms.
This work of public art is distinguished by the interplay of form and experience. Bilodeau’s work is characterized by an exploration of the oblique (based on the work of Claude Parent and Paul Virilio in the 1960s), where inclined planes destabilize the body through a play of gravity and tension that intensifies perception and invokes a critical engagement. More than a minimalist sculpture, there is an open-ended performative quality where dynamic engagement complements the contemplation of the work’s materiality, content, and context.
