Patrick
Bernatchez

Patrick Bernatchez was born in 1972. He lives and works in Montréal. Patrick Bernatchez’s multidisciplinary oeuvre mixes drawings, sculptures, sound installations, films and more. Both groups were developed over several years and neither has a clearly defined ending, since the artist has left openings that allow him to take them a step further at any time. Each new Patrick Bernatchez exhibition is thus an opportunity to take stock of his constantly evolving cycles, as much in terms of newly added productions as of the ways in which earlier works are presented. The artist does not view an exhibition as the conclusion or completion of the creative process surrounding a group of works but as an intermediary step, an initial presentation that allows the works in question to evolve.

Conceptually, Bernatchez plunges us into an abyss of life and death, of rebirth and mutation, of light and darkness, of noise and silence. In his work, opposing concepts are inevitably linked in an eternal cycle. And time is omnipresent as a key factor of evolution and decomposition. (http://www.casino-luxembourg.lu/en/Exhibitions/Les-temps-inacheves)

www.patrickbernatchez.org
www.battatcontemporary.com

“But, to summarize, I’d say that I started down this road when I began to decompartmentalize: it was when I allowed myself the option to work with all techniques (not just drawing or painting) that my practice first
underwent real change. In opening myself to film, music, sculpture, installation, etc., my way of working adapted to the dif ferent constraints inherent to each form of artistic expression. And from that point on I was obliged to collaborate with other people: cinematographers, musicians, technicians. This inevitably had a direct impact on my approach.

There you have two of the key factors that have shaped my approach: exploring diverse techniques and working with different stakeholders and collaborators. The third, and perhaps most important, factor is the modus operandi we just spoke about, my way of working by groups of projects.”