In the studio of… André Fournelle | The rebellious cross

Fascinated by the art foundry, Montreal sculptor André Fournelle has been creating for more than 60 years. The Press discovered the studio of this committed artist, spiritual son of Armand Vaillancourt, who received the Borduas prize last fall for an exceptional creator in the visual arts.

Posted yesterday at 8:00 a.m.

Eric Clement

Eric Clement
The Press

Borduas Prize


PHOTO MICHEL DUBREUIL, PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST

The uncomfortable utopia: homage to Marguerite Yourcenar (1987), bronze and glass, 110 x 120 x 40 cm

It was time to visit his studio in Plateau-Mont-Royal. At least to honor this 82-year-old artist rewarded by Quebec for his contribution to contemporary art. And for his approach turned towards the human and the poetry, as shown by his sculptures and his performances in favor of social justice. In 2005, he created The arsonists, nine metal beds covered with charcoal, to pay tribute to dead homeless people in Montreal. He had presented the same work a few weeks later in Paris, “in the name of the dead in the street”.

“The Borduas Prize was a surprise,” he says. I took it as peer recognition. It validates my work in a way. »

the founder





André Fournelle was not born André Fournelle. He was born British, in 1939, in Newcastle. His parents are said to have died in Nazi bombings. The English Red Cross sent him to Canada where he was adopted at the age of 1 by Quebecers. Fascinated in his youth by science, music and poetry, he dated briefly – because of his rebellious temperament! – the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, before working in a foundry. It was there that he learned the techniques of steelmaking, loving everything related to molten metal.

“It was from there that I created with my friend Marc Boisvert our experimental foundry in Pierrefonds. In the meantime, he met Armand Vaillancourt, his spiritual father who led him to become a sculptor.

A protester and humanist, like Vaillancourt, André Fournelle became politically involved in the 1960s and 1970s, in Quebec and in Europe. Organizing performances and stunts. Documenting the “wild” demolitions of residential buildings. Friend of Serge Lemoyne and Marcelle Ferron, he continued his creations of sculptures, most often monumental, throughout his career. Metal, neon, coal, stone, sand, fire. He has tried everything, as evidenced by his website where his creations are recorded.

The home-workshop

  • Place of creation and place of life, André Fournelle's studio is also his home.

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    Place of creation and place of life, André Fournelle’s studio is also his home.

  • View of the workshop-house

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    View of the workshop-house

  • André Fournelle's workbench

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    André Fournelle’s workbench

  • The main room

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    The main room

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His workshop is also his home. A large bed, an extra bed, a kitchen and a dining room that merge with his workplace. Artwork in every corner of the apartment filled with documents, books and trophies he created, like the one from the Montreal Film Festival. He works in these spaces every day thanks to good physical condition. “But the metal is heavier than before!” he laughs.

public art

  • L'arche de feu (2008), produced in Douai, France, with Claude Chaussard

    PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST

    The ark of fire (2008), produced in Douai, France, with Claude Chaussard

  • The Pendulum (2016), at the Maison de la culture in Sorel

    PHOTO MICHEL DUBREUIL, PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST

    The pendulum (2016), at the cultural center of Sorel

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André Fournelle has contributed a great deal to public art. In 1999, he made lights and silences, an orchestrated line of fire near the Pont des Arts, in Paris. In 2000, in Taiwan, he installed a work in homage to Joseph Beuys. In 2008, his ark of fire is inaugurated in Douai, France. In Quebec, his public works are in Granby, Jonquière, Saguenay, Gatineau, Rivière-du-Loup, Quebec, Val-d’Or, Sherbrooke, Rigaud and Montreal. Verbose, he has not yet benefited from a museum tribute commensurate with his talent. However, this could be the case soon, as exhibition projects concerning him are in the making in two Quebec museums.

André Fournelle in six works

  • André Fournelle in front of This is not a tranquilizer, created in the 1970s

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    André Fournelle in front This is not a tranquilizercreated in the 1970s

  • André Fournelle and his cast iron manhole evoking the rose window of the cathedral of Bourges, in France, part of the installation Sous les pavés

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    André Fournelle and his cast iron manhole evoking the rose window of the cathedral of Bourges, in France, part of the installation Under the cobblestones

  • Detail of Building a Cathedral (1992), a nod to Beuys

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    Detail of Let’s build a cathedral (1992), a nod to Beuys

  • Gate to the Future (2012), at the University of Toronto

    PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST

    Gate to the Future (2012), at the University of Toronto

  • Gold, a Metal in Light (2013), in Val-d'Or

    PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST

    Gold, a metal in light (2013), in Val-d’Or

  • The mastery of time, time is history, the last work of André Fournelle

    PHOTO HUGO-SÉBASTIEN AUBERT, THE PRESS

    The mastery of time, time is historythe last work of André Fournelle

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