For Yechel Gagnon, plywood contains an enormous potential as an artistic medium. Fascinated by the composite nature of the material, she believes it holds many possibilities, many secrets in its multiple layers. Similar to a sculptor who chooses a specific block of marble to carve, Gagnon is guided by the make-up of each piece of plywood. Using routers, sanders, chisel knives and grinders, she strives to unravel the existing information within the wood.

Gagnon likens the marks she cuts into the wood to the ones made with a brush. Each work is a meditative reflection that often suggests landscapes, oneiric spaces or topographical maps. Within these different realms, the image making flows from occidental tradition to Chinese landscape painting. Some elements are more literal than others but the final perception is always different for each viewer depending on their own predisposition.Similar to the layering of the plywood, the final product contains different levels of interpretation and the utilitarian material disappears in favor of a work of art.

Yechel Gagnon completed a Master of Fine Arts in Studio Arts from Concordia University after receiving an AOCAD with Honours in Drawing and Painting from the Ontario College of Art and Design. Gagnon’s work is widely collected and is part of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Osler Hoskins &Harcourt collection, Le Centre-d’art de Baie-St-Paul and in other high profile corporate and private collections.

For more information or high resolution images, please contact Sabrina Sullivan on 403-266-1972.