Charles Gagnon: The Colour of Time, the Sound of Space

(Hardback)

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• FIRST COMPREHENSIVE PUBLICATION ABOUT A MAJOR QUEBEC PAINTER: This is a significant posthumous supplement to two previous exhibition catalogues created for Gagnon retrospectives at the AGO in Toronto in 1977 and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montreal in 2002. It includes a major commissioned essay by art historian and curator Roald Nasgaard, which engages 50 years of Gagnon's artistic journey from the 1950s to 2003.
  
  
• U.S. & INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS: Gagnon moved to NYC in 1955, becoming the first Montreal artist who chose to spend his formative years in NYC instead of Paris. He studied at the Parsons School of Design and at the NY School of Interior Design, and a major painting series of his was inspired by the city. His work also drew inspiration from his travel to New York, Japan, and the American Southwest. He enjoyed friendships with American photographer Lee Friedlander and Japanese composer Tru Takemitsu. Gagnon's work is found in the Hirshorn Museum in Washington, DC.
  
  
• FRENCH-LANGUAGE CONTENT: The work contains a bilingual intro, list of works, bios, and acknowledgments, and a French-language essay by Asselin. The remaining essays are in English only.
  
  
• FAMILY CONNECTION: The project was undertaken by Gagnon's family, including his daughter, Monika Kin Gagnon, who edited the book, and his wife, whose essay offers intimate insights into the late artist's inspirations.
  
  
• ACCOMPLISHED CONTRIBUTORS: Editor Monika Kin Gagnon is a professor of media and cultural studies at Concordia who has published several books on visual art and film. Roald Nasgaard has published widely on Canadian abstract art. Olivier Asselin is a professor of film and media arts at the Universit de Montral and has won awards for his screenwriting work.

Author Bio

Roald Nasgaard is a teacher, writer, and curator. He is the author of the critically acclaimed book Abstract Painting in Canada (2007). His major exhibitions and accompanying books include The Mystic North: Symbolist Landscape Painting in Northern Europe and North America 18901940 (1984); the first Gerhard Richter retrospective in North America (1988); The Automatiste Revolution: Montreal 19411960 (2009); and The Plasticiens and Beyond: Montreal 19551970 (2014). More recently he co-curated Mystical Landscapes (2016) for the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Muse dOrsay in Paris and Higher States: Lawren Harris and His American Contemporaries (2017) for the McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Olivier Asselin is a professor of film and media arts at the Universit de Montral. He is the co-editor of several books, including Precarious Visualities (2008), The Electric Age (2011), Menlo Park 3: Machines uchroniques (Universit Laval, 2014), Espaces de savoir (2016), and Dispositifs immersifs monumentaux et collectifs (2023). Asselin has also contributed to two retrospective exhibition catalogues of Charles Gagnons work, the first in 1998 for the Muse national des beaux-arts du Qubec and the second in 2001 for the Muse dart contemporain de Montral. He also published a book on Gagnons photography with Montreals Dazibao art centre in 2006. Asselin has written and directed several films and designed a number of augmented-reality experiences. Michiko Yajima Gagnon was born in Tokyo, Japan, studied in New York, and lives in Montreal and Ayers Cliff, Quebec. She was the owner and director of Yajima Galerie, Montreal, from 1974 to 1985, one of the first Canadian commercial galleries to feature contemporary Canadian photographers and artists. She curated the group exhibition Elementae Naturae at the Muse dart contemporain de Montral in 1987. Monika Kin Gagnon is a professor of Communication Studies at Concordia University, Montreal. She is the author, editor, and co-editor of numerous essays and books, including Other Conundrums: Race, Culture and Canadian Art (2000), Reimagining Cinema: Film at Expo 67 (2014), and In Search of Expo 67 (2021). In 2010, she assembled the DVD set Charles Gagnon: 4 Films, including his unfinished film R69, named after Yves Gauchers painting of the same name. She is a member of the research group Archive/Counter-Archive and is currently completing the book Posthumous Cinema: Unfinished Films in the Archives. She is the daughter of Charles and Michiko Gagnon.