King of the Mountain, 2020
Charles-Étienne Brochu (Quebec City, Quebec)
At first glance, the King of the Mountain looks like a standard house of (oversized) cards featuring colourful illustrations. A closer look reveals ambivalent imagery: poetic scenes of collaboration and resilience are juxtaposed with more dramatic scenes evoking tears in the social fabric that can, under pressure, become major rifts.
In its resonant location in front of Quebec’s Parliament Building, this fragile-looking work contrasts with the monumental building’s solidity and stands as a metaphor for a society striving to maintain a precarious balance between democratic values and more individualistic, even self-destructive, aspirations. It also represents the duality inherent in all our democratic institutions, which are precious yet powerful, fragile yet resilient. Maintaining a harmonious society, like building a house of cards, requires great care and vigilance. With a single gust of wind or sudden movement, all we have worked so hard to build can come tumbling down…
Charles-Étienne Brochu lives and works in Quebec City, where he earned a BFA and an MFA in visual and media arts from Université Laval. His digital illustrations have been shown at solo exhibitions at ARPRIM and L’Œil de Poisson, as well as at Le Manif d’art (the Quebec City biennial). He has completed research and creation residencies around Quebec including Centre Sagamie (Alma), Sporobole (Sherbrooke), Caravansérail (Rimouski), and La Chambre blanche (Quebec City). In 2016, Charles-Étienne Brochu won the City of Quebec’s Videre award for emerging visual artists.
Special thanks: L’Œil de Poisson.
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