About the Exhibition

Lisette Thibeault – exhibition essay by Eveline Kolijn

The tapestries of swirling organic shapes created by Quebec artist Lisette Thibeault exhaust a vast range of possibilities that contemporary printmaking has to offer. Lisette is attracted to small and hidden organisms from miniature environments. She was inspired by botany for her most recent series of works, which are on display at the Artist Proof Gallery.

In the collections from the Herbarium of Quebec, she found a particular interesting specimen of lichen. She deconstructed this lichen through capturing a singular, material strand from the specimen into an ephemeral, digital image. Subsequently, she proceeded to rebuild it in Photoshop into multiple different configurations. Guided by the principle of multiples in printmaking, she cleverly mimicked the fractal structures found in nature where self-similarity, split into multiple smaller copies of itself, creates the most intricate patterns. To further explore and saturate possible mutations of her image, Lisette uses both the positive and negative image of the object and creates mirror-compositions. The ephemeral gets transformed back into the material through the process of photo-etching on Plexiglas plates. Through the use of Chine-colle, the artist added another layer of multiples by tiling and reflecting the same image several times in one print.

Formal mathematical symmetries and organic shapes seem to compete with each other for attention. Are these living ​​organisms, catalogued in a natural history compendium, or scientific, schematic, representations? A symmetrical, coiled, skein of strands conveys the impression of fleshy veins knotted together. This impression is further aroused through the use of red and blue colors reminiscent of medical charts representing the schematic flow of blood through veins and arteries. Other compositions are more playful and delicate. Repeated wheel-like structures with the fronds of the lichen sticking out like spokes are barely touching each other like lacy gears, suggesting the transfer of motion. A slower and stately movement is expressed in a pair of positive and negative prints where the lichen-strands are coiled in what seems to be a disjointed Mobius strip. It is remarkable how the artist has created this biomorphic universe out of a single strand. She engages the imagination of the viewer to recombine and continue the patterns, stimulating a fantasy of poetic mutation.   

About the Artist

Lisette Thibeault received an honorary mention for this body work at the 6111 International Contemporary Printmaking Biennial of Three Rivers, 2009. The catalogue quotes that “Her masterly work is composed of twisting lines that create a form evoking nerve fibres and human tissues. She creates small format works of great strength.”  She is currently finishing her MFA degree at the Laval University in Quebec.