Magnifier brings together works from four contemporary artists whose practices involve the use of various methods and technologies to address the transformation of landscape and everyday life. In them, real or fabricated scenes that theoretically could prove to be entirely straightforward, if not mundane, are exalted and made complex through the singular visions of their creators. Verging on the staging and documentation of reality, certain works distort the scale of the elements making up them, leading us to wonder exactly what we are looking at. Still others compel our attention for an unusual amount of time, a temporal experience favouring close contemplation of the scene displayed before us. These are enigmatic, sometimes ambiguous, intriguingly tantalizing works that immerse the viewer in an atmosphere of remarkable uniqueness.

Galerie Simon Blais once again indicates its commitment to the contemporary Québec art community by having asked four very promising artists—Catherine Bodmer, Olivia Boudreau, Jocelyn Philibert and Kendra Wallace—to show their works in Magnifier. The exhibition, which includes photographs as well as an installation and a video, was developed by co-curators Natacha Clitandre and Catherine Plaisance.