Robert Houle - Blue Thunder
April 22nd - June 10th 2022
For his inaugural exhibition with Central Art Garage Houle has created a series of parflèeches reprising an artistic theme from a series of work which marked turning point in his artistic career.
Parfleches for the Last Supper (1983), a series of thirteen paintings, combined two diametrically opposed ideologies: Christianity and his Saulteaux heritage. With these works the Last Supper functions as a metaphor for the times Houle’s mother would call the naming shaman to come and give spirit names to her newborns. The ritual included a special meal, with the name-giver opening his medicine bag to reveal his rattle and sacred amulets and medicines. By traditional people in his community, Jesus at the Last Supper is understood to be a shaman with healing powers. The work represents Houle’s synthesis of the two epistemologies, or systems of knowledge, that most influenced his artistic formation. (Robert Houle Life & Work, Shirley Madill)
Robert Houle: Life & Work by Shirley Madill.
In Blue Thunder, Houle presents Parfleches for the Last supper, Version Petite. This installation comprises of 169 parfleches, in the form of paintings comprised of paper, folded over quills and each hand painted by Houle with charcoal and paper pulp that had been coloured to his specifications.
Thirteen sets of thirteen works (representing Jesus and the apostles) are each bundled in canvas and placed in walnut boxes. Each set is numbered I thought XIII, each bundle again representing Jesus and the twelve apostles.
Set XII (Jesus) has been framed for the installation.
Parfleches for the Last Supper was created in 1983, on the occasion of the papal visit of Pope John Paul II to Canada. Houle’s monumental undertaking of Parfleches for the Last Supper, version petite has again coincided with a papal visit to Canada, with a visit by Pope Francis announced in 2022.
Pope Francis has expressed his desire to listen and dialogue with Indigenous Peoples, to express his heartfelt closeness and to address the impact of colonization and the participation of the Catholic Church in the operation of residential schools throughout Canada.
The artist would like to thank Paperhouse Studio for collaboration on creating the handmade paper for the parflèches.
Parfleches for the Last Supper, version petite. Installation
Robert Houle
169 parfleches: paper, painted with paper pulp, adorned with quills (5 1/2” x 5 1/2”)
Sets of thirteen works, wrapped in canvas, in walnut boxes, and presented on a walnut plinth
Jesus (Set #12) framed
Robert Houle with a parfleche bundle.
Robert Houle, Thunder, 2016,
Acrylic on mylar, 47” x 78 1/2“ framed
Robert Houle, untitled photo montage, 1994,
Unique photo lithograph, 37” x 31 1/2” framed
Artist Bio
Robert Houle is an Anishinaabe Saulteaux contemporary artist, curator, writer, critic and educator. His artistic and curatorial practice has played a significant role in the recovery of Indigenous heritage.
Houle’s practice draws on Western art conventions to tackle lingering aspects of European colonization of Indigenous people. He relies on the objectivity of Modernism and the subjectivity of a postmodernism to bring text and photographic documents into his work.
Houle studied at the University of Manitoba, McGill University, and the International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in Salzburg, Austria, and for many years taught Indigenous Studies at the Ontario College of Art and Design. From 1977 to 1981, he was Curator of Contemporary Aboriginal Art at the Canadian Museum of History (formerly the Canadian Museum of Civilization).
Houle has exhibited widely, most recently in the exhibit Robert Houle: Red is Beautiful at the Art Gallery of Ontario, a large scale retrospective of his works from 1970 to 2021.
In 1992 Houle was co-curator of the groundbreaking exhibit Land, Spirit, Power at the National Gallery of Canada. This exhibit brought an unprecedented level of mainstream recognition to Indigenous contemporary art and prompted the integration of Indigenous art into contemporary art collections, resulting in changes in the approach towards the installation and documentation of work by Indigenous artists in museums across the country.
Ripples - Michael Belmore and Frank Shebageget
As a reflection of Houle’s profound influence as an artist and educator, concurrent with Blue Thunder, Central Art Garage presents Ripples.
Ripples features works by Michael Belmore and Frank Shebageget, two accomplished artists who were among the many students of Robert Houle.
Michael Belmore, Resistant (2012)
Sterling silver, found stone, steel. 52″ x 6″ x 6″
Frank Shebageget, Free Ride (2022)
Vintage Canadian five dollar bills, engraved frame. 36 1/2” x 36”