From January 21 to April 14, 2024

Luc Pallegoix uses encaustic painting (burning in pigments with hot wax) on plywood panels, as if they are rare, precious woods, then drills and embroiders them with features typically associated with classical architecture, fine jewelry and cabinetmaking. The same principles lie behind the way the artist reinterprets Lunéville lace, by embroidering metal mesh with stainless steel washers and gemstone beads, employing the same technique as the sequins that decorate haute couture dresses. The eras of classicism (and neo-classicism) are the inspiration behind this series, which the artist showcases with oversized detailing and architectural elements.

The exhibition Boudoir & antichambre – Boiseries brodées is an installation combining wood embroidery and metal lace, evoking an apartment of the 18^th century. It is made up of a row of old-fashioned (yet evocative and familiar) rooms, such as a boudoir or an antechamber. “To make a long story short,” says Luc Pallegoix, “While I was embroidering fine stitches in a far-away manor house, here, men were chopping wood and women were knitting slippers! Now, I embroider wooden boards with a drill and Phentex. You could say I “embroid-DRILL” (a portmanteau of embroidery and drill) and in this way, weave together both my cultures. OUR cultures in fact.”

Born in 1969 in Besançon in France, Pallegoix emigrated to Quebec in 2003. He opened his studio in the Eastern Townships in 2006, becoming a Canadian citizen in 2020. In the meantime, he earned a Master’s Degree in the Arts and with his background in the world of contemporary dance, he created award-winning “cultural adventures” for children, which proved to be very popular. After he shot a series of photographs of men with deer heads, Pallegoix became truly famous!

Once a sensitive young man from a good family, the artist has always embroidered in the old-fashioned way, creating marquoirs, mantel screens and toe puffs.  When he emigrated, he married the traditional techniques of his home culture with his adopted one, and just as much as he has hybridized them, they have hybridized him.