The exhibition offers an incursion into the abstract and colorful worlds of Nabil Azab through two series of recent works, one photographic and the other produced in oil pastels. Multidisciplinary, the artist’s practice questions in particular the role(s) of the image in contemporary society.
With his series of photographic works, Nabil Azab deviates from the association commonly made between this medium and instantaneity. The artist, who has been working with analogue photography for years, instead explores slowness through a meticulous and thoughtful process of experimentation. The use of “homemade” filters placed on the lens allows him to turn away from an objective and figurative representation of reality. The effects of distortion and the blurs created by the filters make the subject captured on photographic film unrecognizable.
The results, printed on a very large scale on matte, thick and textured paper, go beyond the traditional framework of photography and are more reminiscent of plastic arts such as painting on canvas or drawing. By inscribing his works outside of constructed phenomena and outside of all temporalities, the artist opens the way to reflections on memory and the notion of time. Evocative of a dream or a memory whose limits and details escape us, Nabil Azab’s abstract and untitled photographs offer great freedom of interpretation to visitors.
Avid reader and passionate writer, Nabil Azab draws a lot of inspiration from fictional and non-fictional literature for his work. The title of the exhibition the welling up which would not pass is also a reference to the nonlinear perception of time caused by the grief of the poetess Denise Riley described by the psychoanalyst Lisa Baraitser in her book Enduring Time.
Complementary to his photographic practice, the artist also gives us an overview of a series of works in oil pastels on paper. Produced in a more free and spontaneous way, these small formats focus more on gestures. Their speed of execution contrasts with the long process of the artist’s body of photographic works.
Azab’s photographs and pastel works are not objective representations of the world. Tinted with a certain poetry, they are an opportunity for the visitor to question his relationship to images, to time and to create his own reality.
An exhibition to discover from January 22, 2022!
Saturday workshops now open to adults
The workshops will take place according to the health measures in force.
If they need to be cancelled, refunds will be possible.
DRAC is happy to announce that from now on the Saturday workshops will also be open to adults. Thus, for each creative workshop we offer three time slots for our different audiences.
10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.: For ages 5 to 11
1 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.: For ages 12 to 17
2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m.: For adults
February 19, 2022: Pastel landscape inspired by the works of Nabil Azab
Make a work on paper in oil pastel, on the border between figuration and abstraction, inspired by the works of Nabil Azab.
March 12, 2022: Abstract photography inspired by the works of Nabil Azab
Experiment with taking and retouching photographs on a digital tablet in the spirit of the artist’s recent works.
Three activities during school break
March 1, 2022: Oil pastel landscape with the artist Nabil Azab
Make a work on paper in oil pastel inspired by Nabil Azab’s technique and approach. The workshop is led by Nabil Azab and will be followed by a meeting and discussion with the artist.
March 2, 2022: Abstract photography with the artist Nabil Azab
Explore abstract photography by experimenting with different physical manipulations (filters, movements) to create blurry or distorted effects. The workshop is led by Nabil Azab and will be followed by a meeting and discussion with the artist.
March 3, 2022: Acrylic triptych with Camille from DRAC
Create your own picture painted on three panels, inspired by Nabil Azab’s triptych, accompanied by a mediator from the centre.
For more information on our workshops and activities, visit our website DRAC.CA.
Valuable support
DRAC would like to thank its invaluable partners for making this exhibition a reality: Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec and the City of Drummondville.
No registration is required to visit the exhibition and admission is free.
DRAC is wheelchair accessible.
Visitors must wear a face covering at all times.
The vaccination passport is not required.
Business hours
Tuesday and Wednesday: 1 to 5 p.m.
Thursday: 1 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Sunday: 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
Biography
Nabil Azab
Nabil Azab (born in 1994 in Paris) is a multidisciplinary artist of North African origin. He lives and works in Kanien’kehá:ka territory (Montreal). Nabil Azab holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts, specializing in photography from Concordia University (2018). His work has been exhibited notably at April April in New York (2021), at the Art Toronto fair (2021), at Heart Garage in Toronto (2021), at the Wil Abale Art Projects gallery in Vancouver (2021), as well as at Calaboose in Montreal (2019).
Azab uses drawing, painting, writing and research to fuel abstract photographic works that resist the objectivity and discipline of the medium in contemporary life.
The artist is interested in people’s ability to create images in their own reading of his work. In this way, the images and compositions he engages with transcend their initial moment of capture, and have a resonance that spans past, present and future.
Over the next year, Nabil Azab will exhibit at Afternoon Projects in Vancouver and at the Franz Kaka Gallery in Toronto.