December 7, 2015 – March 26, 2016
Originally from France, Jérôme Havre is a Toronto based artist inspired by the production of natural history dioramas in museums and zoos. He develops in his creations reflexive spaces through immersive processes. He looks for ways to do this through presentation, the creation of situations, or setting the stage with his sculptures and inviting the public to take part “in the show.” Jérôme's work interrogates issues of identity, territory and community through the representation of nature. That is, the manner in which it is presented and yet can be more readily perceived through our cultural filters. According to Jérôme, “nature is deliberately altered in order to deceive us and keep order.” Jérôme completed his studies at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. During his time at the School of Fine Arts he was awarded three scholarships that enabled him to pursue different art practices: silk printing techniques in New York (Cooper Union), printing techniques in Barcelona (Bellas Artes) and painting and video in Berlin (Universität der Künste Berlin - HDK) in the workshop of Marwan Kassab Bashi. Jérôme uses textiles, sculpture, digital prints, photographic images, murals, sound recording, and videos to create scenographic installations. For him, the use of a technological process is not only to accomplish a specific task, but a necessary form of expression itself.
While in residence, Jerome worked on the production of a long video set in the AGO’s galleries, utilizing puppets he crafted for the project.
