Montreal Artist David Altmejd to Exhibit New Work in Home City After Years Abroad
Montreal-born sculptor David Altmejd is preparing for an exhibition at the Bradley Ertaskiran gallery in May, marking a potential return to his artistic roots after two decades primarily based in New York and, more recently, Los Angeles.The show will be held in the galleryS unique underground space, dubbed “the bunker,” and will feature a new body of work from the artist known for his fantastical and often unsettling creations.
Altmejd,who left Montreal for New York in 1999 to attend Columbia University,has achieved significant success in the art world,but remains somewhat rootless,having spent the last few years in Los Angeles and recently completing a project in Finland. His sculptures, often described as creatures of instinct, frequently feature fragmented human forms and explore themes of identity and transformation. A recent work, The Comets, depicted in a video at the UQAM gallery, features three faces of a bearded man with three sets of hands and a third eye. The artist described a process of building and then dismantling elements of the sculpture, stating, “It’s as if the hats had created a new type of energy in the piece…When that energy came in the work, the hats were not necessary.I took them off.”
Altmejd’s current exhibition, Agora, continues at the Galerie de l’UQAM until January 24.
