Richard Ibghy & Marilou Lemmens
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
Collaboration since 2002; Based in Durham-Sud, Quebec, Canada
The Prophets, 2013-2015; mixed media; installation view, La Biennale de Montréal, Musée d‘art contemporain de Montréal, Montréal, Canada, 2014 and Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul, Turkey, 2015
Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens’ project, The Prophets, references the work of economists, who they see as modern-day prophets, “…who examine the destiny and moral character of a nation.” Specifically focusing on the concepts of labor and the workforce and consumer and productivity data, their installation is comprised of long tables filled with a collection of small-scale sculptures made of readily-available everyday materials like wire, string, and acetate. Each of the objects represents an economic chart or graph, for example, but the similarity ends there. Unlike their didactic inspirations, the delicate sculptures are intended to be humorous homages to the attempt to predict human behavior, using a play on words, and a deliberate skepticism about some source material. The correlation between measuring artistic labor, value judgement, and “honest” work is also evident, and another ironic component of the project.
Most recently, Ibghy and Lemmens’ work was presented in solo exhibitions at the Bemis Center for Contemorary Arts, Omaha, Nebraska (2019); VOLT, Visningsrommet USF Gallery, Bergen, Norway (2019); the Audian Gallery, SFU Galleries, Vancouver (2018); Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston, Ontario, Canada (2017); Jane Lombard Gallery, New York (2017); Owens Art Gallery, Sackville, Canada (2017); Louise and Reuben Cohen Art Gallery, Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada (2017); the International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York (2016); YYZ Artists’ Outlet, Toronto, Canada (2016); Esker Foundation Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary, Canada (2016); Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal, Canada (2016); VOX-Centre de l’image contemporaine, Montreal, Canada (2014); Trinity Square Video, Toronto, Canada (2014); Monte Vista Projects, Los Angeles, California (2012); and Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2012).
Richard Ibghy and Marilou Lemmens have published four artist’s books and their writings have been published in books, catalogues, and magazines. A comprehensive monograph about their practice as well as a book dedicated to one of their works, The Prophets, will be published in 2020.
They have been awarded the Prix Giverny Capital in 2019 and the Research Fellowship of the Grantham Foundation for the Arts and the Environment in 2020.
Images courtesy of the artist
