Culture is to human as water is to fish. Showing one is an exploration to better view the other. Like a fish in the water, we evolve within human culture. Totally immersed in their element, ichthyology entities adopt a hydrodynamic form and behavior that best allows them to evolve and survive. Fish that swim near the surface of water have a different form than those that live in deep sea. Cold water fish have a different color than warm water fish. In addition, fish ingest their environment from which they draw oxygen essential to their survival and reject the rest. When they change fluid, from liquid to gaseous oxygen, they die or suffocate. Totally immersed, they do not see their element; they feel the effects and see only what is there. It is the same for human who bathe in an essential element which leads him to adopt a form, a way of being, which is: culture.
Since 1968 Bourjoi, at the age of eighteen, has presented his work in more than eighty solo and group exhibitions in Montreal, Laval, Quebec, Labrador City and Washington.
For a quarter of a century, while producing and exhibiting his 2D and 3D creations, he worked in factories and on building sites in Montreal. He also worked within the province in order to learn the trades and values from the ones who are building this material world for all of us. Following this exploration, in order to validate his career as a self-taught artist, Bourjoi, at the age of forty-six, obtained a Master's degree in visual arts at UQAM. Subsequently, while intensively maintaining his personal artistic research, he also taught visual arts.
Since 2001, he continues to create in his beautiful workshop which he built himself in the year 2000 in the district of Hochelaga where he receives nearly 400 visitors per year. He regularly publishes cultural writings for the Hochelaga District pages and is also known as Hochelaga’s artist and skilled worker. He is currently producing a monumental public sculpture for a company in his neighborhood.
Opening reception will be held on Sunday the 22nd of April at 2 p.m.