Untitled

The wood is russet brown, dark in the hollows and paler along the worn ridges. The mass climbs in a twist from a base that opens into an arch on two supports, like outstretched limbs, and turns back on itself at the tip. Toward the right, tapered protrusions suggest a snout without ever settling into a figure. The knots and the cavities opened by erosion have been left as they were; in the upper third, two of them each hold a pale stone wedged in the hollow. The piece wavers between stump and beast. The artist picked the root up on Île Sainte-Hélène, in Montréal, one stone already caught in the wood, a cohabitation he calls unlikely.

Found wood sculpture, its twisted root rising in an S with two pale stones wedged in the hollows, set on a white surface against a plain background.

Close-up of the upper part of the sculpture, two angular beige stones wedged into the hollows of the gnarled found wood, white background.

Three-quarter view of the found-wood sculpture, two long roots stretched across a white plinth whose corner is visible, pale stones set into clefts in the wood.

Frontal view of the upright found wood, its crown forking in two, a flat stone against a dark cavity and a beige triangular stone wedged lower down, white background.

Found-wood sculpture on a white plinth, two long roots stretched across its top, two pale stones wedged in hollows of the wood, white background.

Found-wood root on a dark table by a window that looks onto a snowy yard, potted aloe plants flanking it, the wood glossy orange-brown, with gold showing in two of its hollows

The reddish-brown root set outdoors on a freshly sawn stump against a cedar hedge, its pale stone lodged in the middle hollow, the upper tip running past the top of the frame

Close low-angle view, the wood grey-beige and matte, two pale stones wedged in its hollows, the piece standing on red diamond-plate metal in a corner hung with two large paint-splattered canvases

The whole piece seen from further back on a red lacquered tabletop with a black base, in the corner where two splatter paintings meet, the wood pale and dry, two pale stones held in its hollows

Closer three-quarter view taken from lower down, the fanned foot of the base spreading to the right along the red tabletop, two pale stones set in the hollows, the wood grey-beige and dry

Studio shot against a pale grey backdrop, the piece resting on a dark tabletop, the wood almost black and highly polished, with gold-coloured patches filling both hollows

Reading notes

Ritual verticality pared to its material essentials: the root's accidental twist becomes signature, the chance cavity becomes housing for stone. The gesture consists in recognising, then removing what conceals.