Yann Pignard

Attempts on her life, 2023

Yann-Marc Pignard is a multidisciplinary artist from the coast of Brittany and now living in Tiohtiá:ke/Montreal, Quebec. Mostly engaged in site specific installations and tridimensional practices, he is currently a BFA candidate in Sculpture at Concordia University. Prior to a career shift in 2020, he held various positions in the pharmaceutical industry. Questioning spaces, everyday objects and processes in relation to postmodern influences, conflicts and environmental issues continues to infuse his research. Influenced by the work of anarchist philosopher Jacques Ellul, his work is critical of the technological society. Aesthetically, he is dedicated to the pursuit of creative tension between precision and freedom.

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My work is an exploration of the barricade as a sculptural form. Just like the sand walls children build on the sea side to confront the tide, the sculptures that I assemble resist. They challenge the notion that reality is best represented by things that make causal sense. In the aftermath of a strong tide, one can find intricate and precarious piles of disparate objects lying everywhere on the coast, living as symbolic gestures or memories: empty shells, fishing nets, plastic caps, driftwood, seaweed, polished glass, bird feathers… Similarly, the accumulation of objects plays a significant role in my work. It’s through their irreconcilable multiple logics, their displacement and conflicts that tension or meanings emerge. Sometimes, the work alludes to terrifying, technical, precise or violent affairs, like the blockhaus overlooking the ocean of Britany and Normandy. Barricades are more often an action, a question or even a spontaneous reaction: a messy process made visible through a temporary form rather than through a lasting, formalized and intelligible idea. Objects, especially commodities, outlast us. I feel that returning agency to those objects requires a form of art that celebrates some aspect of urgency for the public realm.