Corporalis
2022-2023
Research and exploration
In collaboration with Marion Schneider
Financed by the Canada Council for the Arts, 2022
Montréal (Qc), Canada
Corporalis is a reinterpretation of the sculptural group Satyre-Hermaphrodite, whose best-known and most complete replica, located in Dresden at the Staatliche
Kunstammlungen, is a small marble. It depicts Hermaphrodite, naked, trying to escape Satyr's embrace. Often interpreted as erotic, the composition seems to us more as a symbol of the violence experienced by non-binary and genderqueer people. The position of Hermaphrodite and Satyre represents for us a strong position of rejection and tension towards this violence and patriarchy. Through a process of drawing, scanning, modeling, 3d printing and casting, we have reinterpreted the original work to make a symbolic, updated representation in our own image; non-gendered, fluid and in constant evolution. In this way, the work pushes the limits of the dialogue between figuration and abstraction, confusing gendered reference marks in the representation of the human body. The organic softness of Corporalis contrasts with the violence of the original sculpture. The bodies have merged into a single entity, and the figurative has become abstract. Everyone's bearings are disturbed and stereotypes defused. The materiality chosen for this sculpture is also very important. Ice melts, becomes liquid. The process of melting this solid ice sculpture into liquid water is part of the work itself. This physical transformation evokes the fluidity of genders and bodies, which are primarily made up of water and are constantly evolving until they dissolve. As the sculpture melts, it's impossible not to think of the environmental issues and establishing a link between queer theory and ecology.
Clay & Gypsum
2023 -2024
Research and exploration
Montréal (Qc), Canada
Formal and material study in progress involving materials collected from construction sites (here the combination of clay and gypsum on a steel armature). This research is part of a recycling and re-use initiative, addressing the major environmental impact of the construction sector, recognized as one of the most polluting. The recycling and re-use of construction materials offers a sustainable solution for the environmental problems associated with the production of new materials. It contributes to the preservation of limited natural resources by avoiding the intensive exploitation of exhaustible materials such as minerals, thereby reducing demand for primary resources and preserving fragile ecosystems. By extending the lifetime of materials, this approach contributes in its own way to reduce the carbon footprint associated with the production of these construction materials. Recycling and re-use also contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions associated with waste management, by preventing the accumulation of construction debris in landfill sites. In conclusion, this project aims to encourage the recycling of construction materials in visual arts sector, laying the foundations for a symbiosis between two distinct fields and a more sustainable, eco-friendly approach.
La Madone
Mars 03 2022– May 03 2022
Body of work presented as part of the group exhibition Intérieures
Cache Studio gallery
Montréal (Qc), Canada
"I take as my starting point the definition of the word interior, a word that kept coming to mind when I thought about the works of the women in this exhibition.(...) The same definition applies to Eve Saint Jean's work, which explores another part of the soul: the vast interior of the collective unconscious. Here, the intimate meets the intersubjective. Her odysseys through the history of art deconstruct the haunting archetypes that weigh down its crew. (...) As Lacan said, "woman does not exist". The practices of these women embody probabilities that shatter the monolithic conception of woman from within, probabilities because they are born from within, because they are 'interior'."
-Stephanie Cambria
Founder and curator of Cache Studio gallery.
Collective Amnesia - 2021
May 19, 2021 - June 19, 2021
Solo exhibition
Presented at the Galerie Ave
Montreal (Qc), Canada
“Saint Jean began this series with an analytical point of departure: how have historical archetypes shaped contemporary society, and how can these archetypes be reconfigured into neutral and universal applications? Imagining ‘archetypes’ as abstracted forms in themselves – social constructs whose meanings have blurred and degraded over time, Saint Jean neutralizes motifs found in classical paintings to the point where they exist only as embryonic fields of colour, gesture, line and shape.”
-Maela Ohana
Founder and curator of Archive Contemporary, Founder of Archive Collective Magazine and Co-Founder and Creative Director of The Earth Issue.
