Trevor Bourke
Distant Mirror

March 12 to April 16, 2022

Galerie Nicolas Robert is proud to present Distant Mirror, Trevor Bourke’s first solo exhibition in Montreal. Bourke has assembled an intricate body of work from the past year. This new series of paintings is interested in investigating the internal relationship with fantasy and how it struggles to illuminate, on the one hand, and obscure reality on the other. The paintings are fraught with mystery and undertones of illumination that reveal puzzling scenes of passive and active characters struggling with their own existence on the image plan. Despite this struggle, some of the paintings pivot towards a deafening calmness that helps balance the foray of imagery. These images are set against spectacles of introspection, excitement, and transitions, all of which are manipulated with varying subjects chosen to propel the viewer away from the present into memory. The subjects within the paintings inhabit icons that are then manipulated through revelation or obscurity, shaping perception and reason. Memory, therefore, relies on fantasy to amend perception and establish a relationship to the realm of the present in which absolutes run rampant and dissatisfaction induces vulnerability.

Trevor Bourke lives and works in Montreal (QC). He graduated from Concordia University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (2020). His works have been shown in group exhibitions at Project Casa (2020), Bruises Gallery (2021), Truck Rally Gallery (2021), Circa (2021), Cache Studio (2021), Hans Gallery (2021), and a solo show at Elysian Hydraulics (2021).