Dichotomic compositions, plays of opposites: the whole of painter Alexis Lavoie’s work combines elements from different worlds, setting viewers off on an extraordinary search for meaning. Beach balls, skulls, rainbows, truncated human bodies, streamers, various scraps and Twister game mats are strewn over the ground, juxtaposed with flat areas of colour. That strategy results in an uncertainty, for although some of the paintings may evoke post-apocalyptic scenes, an ambiguity remains, as an elliptical narrative framework intimates a sudden return to reality after a festive interlude.

The body of recent work to be presented in the exhibition Saisons mortes continues in the same vein, with the relative refinement of the compositions confirming the artist’s skill in offering up for view a static setting in which the final chapter in the story of humanity seems to be playing out. Drawing from a list of meteorological terms, the titles of the paintings—Canicule, Bleu ciel, Éclipses / Corps célestes, Cirrocumulus, Cirrus, Pyrocumulus—result in directing attention to the unsettled skies depicted in isolated corners. Designed to distract us from the tragedies unfolding, the tactic is eerily similar to our own wilful blindness in respect to the many dangers that, in these dark times, threaten life on Earth.