|2026| LE NIMBE

Biennale de sculpture / Kitsh - Guilty pleasures (Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, QC).

July 9th-12th 2026.

Artists Mathieu Houde and Michel Saulnier have a shared interest in popular culture and the ways in which these forms shape our narratives. Michel Saulnier has long embraced a love for the kitsch and the playful, focusing on animal figures drawn from the world of children’s fairy tales—motifs he values ​​for their capacity to evoke a sense of wonder. Mathieu Houde, meanwhile, draws upon religious heritage and rural folklore to explore how objects can transcend their mere materiality, while transposing spiritual narratives into the context of contemporary social issues.

Their collaboration takes the form of a roadside shrine—a vernacular typology that punctuates the rural Quebec landscape. These stations serve as stopping points, transitional spaces where one shifts from the everyday to the contemplative. Beside a monumental circle composed of teddy bear heads stands a devotional-style bas-relief, featuring holy figures associated with the bear. Through the repetition of a single element, the circle evokes both the Baroque vaults adorned with cherub heads and the halos of saints, acting as a lens or a threshold between the profane and the sacred.

Beyond referencing popular religious traditions, the work prompts a reflection on the notion of authenticity. It incorporates elements created using a "roughing-out" machine—a tool once used to produce "handmade" multiples—alongside components crafted via 3D printing with wood-filament, thereby raising questions about reproduction and the value of the artisan’s touch. This dialogue between techniques—juxtaposing 3D printing with its analog ancestor, the roughing-out machine—serves as a conceptual thread running through the piece. It bridges two eras of sculptural reproduction—two ways of multiplying forms, and two approaches to questioning authenticity and the value of the artistic gesture. The installation thus explores the continuity between mass-produced popular religious objects and contemporary kitsch forms, revealing their unexpected affinities.

Translated from 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦-𝘌𝘷𝘦 𝘎. 𝘊𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘢𝘺’s original text.

LA BIENNALE DE SCULPTURE (Saint-Jean-Port-Joli) on Facebook.

https://www.biennaledesculpture.com/