Research and experimentation lie at the heart of Alice Zerini-Le Reste’s artistic practice. She uses ceramics, glass and drawing to create artworks that evoke memories, places and emotions. By making the process an integral part of the artwork, she has developed a practice of collecting and transforming material into meaningful works. Through this approach, the artist offers multiple perspectives on each piece and the sculptures in this exhibition combine the experience of being on the road, glances at the rear-view mirror, damaged and recycled car windows, the mechanic who provided the glass and Zerini-Le Reste’s own artistic journey.

Dancing eyes is a common (i.e. non-medical) description of the phenomenon of the involuntary eye oscillation movements that occur quite naturally when looking at a landscape through the window of a car. As the land whizzes by, the viewer joins in a « dance » that drifts between the sound of music, the car radio and human conversations, interspersed with silence – a kaleidoscope of towns, villages, fields, seashores and forests, of which the observer is a part. Each of the exhibits illustrates just how beautiful these soft, blurry scenes can be, and yet they are fleeting and elusive, perceived from within the car through its windows and mirrors, evaporating as we come to a final stop at our destination.

Alice Zerini-Le Reste lives and works in Montreal and Stockholm. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) majoring in ceramics, from Concordia University (Montreal) and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) with a specialisation in glass and ceramics from Konstfack University of Arts, Crafts and Design (Stockholm). Her career has led her to exhibit her work and undertake art residencies in Canada and abroad. She has been awarded with the prix Louise Paillé (2022) and the prix Lise-Hélène Larin (2021).