THÉO BIGNON | NIGHTCAPS

2024 | THÉO BIGNON
NIGHTCAPS
MONTRÉAL
May 16 - June 29, 2024
Opening : 16 mai, 17h

  • ARTWORK

A nostalgic stroll through some current-day queer sites of encounter as well as those of past decades, Nightcaps explores themes dear to Théo Bignon’s artistic practice. Featuring over one hundred Fausses Lavandes (“faux lavender”), beaded flowers in a variety of colours, the exhibition is experienced as a sequence of memories. The revelry evoked by the beaded and embroidered works is that of evenings dripping with seduction, pub-crawls and impromptu encounters in “fringe” spaces, where a kind of magic takes place. These sites include bars, but also gymnasiums, bathrooms and parks. A nightcap…and all that it suggests of what’s to come.

Each of Bignon’s meticulously crafted compositions speaks to the physical locations that are the context for these sensual encounters, such as embroidery stitches that reproduce fragments of the architectural plans of a bar. Borrowing from the techniques of ‘embellishing’ crafts, the works continue the artist’s reflection on the historical exclusion of certain materials from the dominant discourse. For instance, beading and embroidery, which have traditionally been associated with the decorative arts, with the frivolous and feminine. Bignon approaches these techniques from a perspective of resistance, a stance that can also be associated with the way in which his work represents marginal spaces, depicted abstractly.

Théo Bignon is a French artist based in Tiohtiá:ke/Mooniyang/Montreal since 2020, whose practice examines the intersections between desire, ornamentation and queer identity.  His work has been exhibited internationally, most notably at the Villa Noailles (Hyères, France), Bunker Projects (Pittsburgh, United States), Galerie McClure (Montreal), The Hive Gallery (Los Angeles, United States), Site:Brooklyn (United States), Salon LB (Chicago, United States) et Whatiftheworld Gallery (Cape Town, South Africa). He holds an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the Fiber & Material Studies department and a BA from Sciences Po Paris (France). In parallel with Nightcaps, Bignon will be exhibiting his recent work in the exhibition Double entendre at the Centre Clark in May and June 2024.