I spent the month of May in Montréal and nearly every conversation I had with an artist or gallerist involved this question in one form or another: have you seen Dominique’s installation yet? They were referring to Dominique Pétrin and her utterly massive installation House of Xtravaganza.
Fortunately, Caroline Cloutier of Arprim was kind enough to set up an appointment for me to stop by and meet Pétrin during installation. I should also mention that all photo credits in this post go to Caroline, as well. Dominique and her three-person crew took a break from their marathon wheatpasting so that she could talk for a few minutes.
Dominique Pétrin on site.
The imagery below the green, yellow, and black stripes are an advertisement.
When we arrived, they were in the thick of covering an apartment building with her trademark silkscreen graphics in The Gay Village of downtown Montréal. Pétrin described the neighborhood as “kitschy and wild, colorful and vibrant,” an accurate description of both the location and Pétrin’s work. If you’re not already familiar, Pétrin has a penchant for brightly colored repeat patterns; lots of variations on checkerboards and isometric cubes interrupted by the occasional palm tree or parrot.
To install House of Xtravaganza, Pétrin is utilizing three industrial lifts that range from 80 to 100 ft high and, as I mentioned earlier, she has a three-person crew. Clearly, an installation like this is a big undertaking. I asked her what the greatest challenge of working on such a huge residential structure is? She was quick to point out the difficulty in intruding on people’s privacy. While most residents have been amicable, not everyone is thrilled to find an artist’s head pop up outside of their third floor balcony.
I also asked her what made the piece site specific. She explained that the building is well known in the gay community as the “Cage Aux Folles,” referring to the french cult movie of the same name. She saw potential for its geometric concrete balconies to function as flags so she created a series of iconic imagery that appears to filter real heraldry (references range from France and Angola to the Black Panther party and rainbow flag of the Gay Rights Movement) her own lexicon of imagery. The piece is a part of a commission to activate a summer pedestrian space on Sainte-Catherine Street. Pétrin also wheatpasted two public venues- the National Bank of Canada and the Beaudry metro station (see pictures at the end of the post).
Note the small image taped on the center of the lift… that’s the preliminary image that Petrin and her crew were working from.
The pink balls, the Les Boules Roses, aren’t part of the installation. They are a feature of the neighborhood in the summertime.
Pétrin was a member of the now defunct band, Les Georges Leningrad, which was known for elaborate costumes and masks. She’s borrowed the performative aspect from her music career and brought it to her work as a visual artist. It’s easy to draw a line from her interest in large-scale public works to her time as a performer, working with an audience, and creating spectacle. She also claims that “using lifts and going 100 feet high and dealing with issues of vertigo, spiders, weather, and wasps feeds my strong appetite for danger.” And can’t we all use more danger in our practice?
Bigger isn’t always better but there is something fantastic about seeing someone execute a project on this scale. The fact that the size is appropriate for the piece makes it all the better. I’m glad I was able to stop by and see Pétrin’s piece in-progress. It’s an engaging piece on it’s own but seeing the enthusiasm and energy that goes into the execution adds a whole other dimension to it as an artwork.
You can check out Dominique’s website to see more of her work. The rest of these images are from her installation at the Beaudry metro station down the street from the apartment building… 
