Launched in Westmount in 2007 and initially involving significantly fewer galleries, Papier gradually moved downtown, occupying a tent for several iterations before moving indoors, spending several years at Arsenal and other venues before moving to the Quay. For the past several years (barring the pandemic virtual year), it has taken in around 11,000 attendees and $1-1.5 million in sales on average. This year it was possible for the public to view artworks for free through the virtual fair that ran from April 21 to May 7, 2023.
The event was organized by The Contemporary Art Galleries Association (AGAC) “a non-profit organization that actively contributes to the dissemination and promotion of Canadian artists through its different online platforms, projects and events. ...to further develop the recognition and prosperity of the contemporary art market in Canada.”
If Papier's mission had been to present the public with affordable artworks and extend the base of investors in the province's art, Plural has been defined as building on this to expand the market (notably beyond its provincial limitations) and to reward those who have already entered and supported the market. This was glossed in La Presse as, “The mission of the Plural Fair, since its inception, has always been to democratize art, to reach out to first-time buyers and the general public.” Papier's mandate also focused on print work while that of Plural expands this to other media.
The re-branding extended beyond the title to the visual identity of the event, designed by the studio Principal, to accompany a newly reconfigured space that made the city easily visible from within the exhibition. (The touristic aspects of this are highlighted in the video below.)
The identity is inspired by a play on typographic compositions, yet remains minimalist in order to allow the art to stand out and shine. “To begin this new chapter of the project, we wanted a brand image that was both elegant and edgy,” says Julie Lacroix, AGAC's director. “The parentheses are an ingenious way to present the multiple components of Plural, and the patterns they create echo the sophisticated and festive character of the fair.”
Plural does not just reference the variety of media but was selected for other symbolic connotations. Beyond its suggestiveness of “simplicity, originality and resonance,” it also “reflects the true nature of the event.” Finally, it has a political-ethical overtone: “The name Plural can also be interpreted as a reference to pluralism, a tenet that recognizes the coexistence of opinions, tendencies and behaviours within a community.”
The event was self-identified as follows:
Plural celebrates the best of contemporary art in Canada. Created by and for the galleries, the fair presents and brings together the plurality of voices and works in contemporary art from across the country. It elevates art market practices through a rigorous selection of galleries presenting thoughtfully chosen artists and artworks; and through accessible programming that addresses current issues and questions in the field of art. Plural fosters the discovery of new voices and forms of expression in leading contemporary art and cultivates a sense of collectivity within the Canadian art community.
Honorary President and Head of Client Relations for Banque Nationale, Éric Bujold, stated that the event, “provides art lovers with the opportunity to nurture their passion and share it in a unique and inclusive space where all are welcome.” Meanwhile, Karine Vanasse, actress and the event's spokesperson, stated that, “For me, the artworks featured at Plural represent wonderful, sincere and important encounters with the artists and their art. The Plural fair offers a unique immersion into what makes contemporary art in Canada so vibrant.”
The event was co-sponsored by these corporations and government departments:
It would not be Contemporary Art without significant cultural mediation, of course. This was provided most overtly in the Forum, “made possible thanks to the financial support of the Claudine and Stephen Bronfman Family Foundation.”
Upon entering, there is an open area with works scattered around it. Works included were by Adam Basanta, Rick Leong, Shannon Bool, Élisabeth Perrault, Graeme Patterson, Sarah Stevenson, and Lorna Bauer. These are lumbered together. There wasn't any real curation and they seemed mostly selected to keep children distracted, at least that's how they functioned.
Art fairs are, of course, terrible ways to see art. Although to its credit, this one wasn't as bad as many. Much of the work selected was either shown over the past several years or from related bodies of work. The flat sampling style certainly does do something to “democratize” the works, de-spectacularizing them and making them appear more like stuff from the craft fairs they have in church basements in my neighbourhood. The pin-up quality of the work is accentuated when the spatial attempt to accord them a more meaningful aura is removed. Unsurprisingly, the works selected tended to be the boldest in terms of colour content and there was an appreciable level of figurative painting.
In the bottom, there are also two installations. One of work by Caroline Mauxion, which was bubbling and peeling off the wall when I was there. (I have written on related works by her previously.) The larger installation was also a repeat of a show that had been in galleries a few months ago.
National Bank Private Banking 1859 partnered with multimedia artist Rihab Essayh to showcase The Hymn of the Warriors of Love, (which showed at McBride Contemporain last year) and which “proposes a utopian near-future where visitors can rest and recharge. In a culture that often prioritizes productivity over collective care, Essayh's hypothetical world provides a refreshing alternative that emphasizes community and recuperation.” The therapeutic intervention is accomplished using soft lights and soothing music “informed by the theoretical foundations of radical softness and Afrofuturism, fusing ideas from both to define her signature ethos of soft futurism — a sensibility that uncompromisingly imagines new and equitable futures that identifies vulnerability and interdependence as pillars of collective liberation and wellbeing.”
Far from being about the near-future, the work is a symptomatic instance of the most delusional aspects of empathetic capitalism as well as embodying the ongoing provincial fantasy that the city's art scene has any more than a parasocial relation to international art.
Plural is less interesting for what it may suggest about art in the city per se than for what it tells us about what art is for Canadian bankers at the moment. This is best summarized both in the ideological fantasies used to animate the Forum listed above, and in the little collection presented of works recently acquired by Banque Nationale (Nicolas Grenier, Shary Boyle, Janet Werner, Sara Cwynar, Cynthia Girard-Renard etc.).
*All images were taken from the official Instagram of Plural.