Sylvie Bélanger Explained

Sylvie Bélanger
Birth Date:	8 May 1951
Birth Place:	Le Gardeur, Québec, Canada
Death Place:	Montréal, Québec, Canada
Field:	installation artist, video artist
Training:	Concordia University, York University, Université de Montréal

Sylvie Bélanger (8 May 1951 - 8 October 2020) was a Canadian interdisciplinary artist using sound, video, photography and installation. She lived and worked in Toronto as an Associate Professor of Visual Studies at SUNY Buffalo until her retirement in 2017. Where after, she moved to Montréal.^[1]

Early life

Bélanger received an MFA from York University, a BFA from Concordia University and a Baccalauréat in Philosophy of Religion from Université de Montréal.

Work

Bélanger exhibited her multimedia installations across Canada, USA, France, Germany, Spain, England, the Netherlands, Japan, Thailand, Philippines and China.

Joan Murray discussed her works such as He and She (1992) in "Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century" (1999)^[2] saying it was witty and mysterious. In 2002 Bélanger was commissioned to create public art for the Bessarion subway station in Toronto. The work is a series of friezes of hands, feet and backs of heads, which represent the users of the station. The feet images appear on the concourse level while the heads appear on the platform level. The hand images appear along the stairs between the Sheppard Avenue side entrance/exit and the concourse.

Death

Bélanger died on 8 October 2020 of cancer at the age of 69.

Collections

• Gemeente Museum, The Netherlands,
• Oakville Galleries, Ontario^[3]
• Art Windsor-Essex, Ontario^[4]
• Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec^[5]
• The Canada Council for the Arts Art Bank^[6]
• Art Gallery of Guelph^[7]
• Woodlawn Arts Foundation, Toronto

Awards

Bélanger was the recipient of the Stauffer Prize awarded by the Canada Council for the Arts^{[8] [9]}

Further reading

• Bélanger, Sylvie and Lorenzo Buj. "Meditation." Reading the Gaze. C. Barber, S. Kivland and C. Leyser, (eds). London: Bookwork, 1991. 51-70.
• C. Christie. "Sylvie Bélanger." Canadian News Makers. Toronto: Gale Canada, 1997. 48-51.
• Allucquère R. Stone, M. Heim, D. de Kerckhove, L. Dompierre Press Enter, Between Seduction and Disbelief. Toronto: The Power Plant. 1995
• Cheetam, Mark. Remembering Postmodernism: Trends in Recent Canadian Art. Toronto: Oxford, University of Toronto, 1991.
• The Cutting Edge Women's Research Group, editor. Desire By Design: Body, Territories and New Technologies. 1999. 82.
• Grande, John K. "Intertwining: Artists, Landscape, Issues, Technology" 1998. 105
• Jolicoeur, Nicole. Emettre du silence in Trans-mission. Montréal: La Centrale/Powerhouse Remue-Ménage, 1996. 68-73.
• Marks, L.U. "Press / Enter", Artforum (Sept. 1995): 97.
• Murray, J. Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1999. 272-93.
• Ylitalo, K. "Sylvie Bélanger." Redaktion Allegmeines Kunstlerlexikon. München-Leipzig, Germany: K.G. Saur Verlad 2008.
• "Tu me manques" Art Forum Azamino. (vol. 3, June 2007)
• "Sylvie Bélanger at Portside." Madame FIGARO. #342 (06/06/2007): 78.

External links

• Official Website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Taylor . Kate . Artist Sylvie Bélanger explored the tension between reality and its representation . theglobeandmail.com.
2. Book: Murray . Joan. Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century. 1999. Dundurn. Toronto. 260193722 . 2022-10-21.
3. Web site: BÉLANGER, Sylvie - Essai de synthèse (detail #1), 1990 . www.oakvillegalleries.com . en.
4. Web site: Collection . artwindsoressex.ca . Art Windsor-Essex . 21 October 2022.
5. Web site: The Silence of the Body - Bélanger, Sylvie . Collections MNBAQ.
6. Web site: Maintenant les objets m'apperçoivent 1991 . artbank.ca/ . en.
7. Web site: He . Art Gallery of Guelph.
8. Web site: The Canada Council for the Arts - Joseph S. Stauffer Prizes - Cumulative list of Winners. 2008-06-24. https://web.archive.org/web/20080831073918/http://www.canadacouncil.ca/prizes/joseph_s_stauffer/gc127238388984062500.htm. 2008-08-31. live.
9. Web site: The Canada Council for the Arts - Joseph S. Stauffer Prizes . 2008-06-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20070427090223/http://canadacouncil.ca/prizes/joseph_s_stauffer/ . 2007-04-27 . live .