Sandra Chevrier's Masked Superwomen Take Hong Kong by Storm
Blending portraiture with comic books, the Montreal artist pays homage to everyday superheroes.
Outside of the frenetic, high-rolling confines of Art Basel Hong Kong last week, there were a number of solo exhibiting artists in independent galleries throughout the city that plied their vision to the more intrepid of art enthusiasts. Among them was Montreal native Sandra Chevrier, invited by Above Second Gallery to showcase her latest additions to her ongoing Les Cages series. Having exhibited all over the world, Chevrier has carved out a distinct niche for herself in the art world for her masterful blending of classic portraiture and modern comic book prints, resulting in haunting images of women clad in a reinterpreted superhero mask. However, beyond the literal facade of the figures in her paintings is a much more nuanced commentary on what it means to be a superhero and a woman in modern society, which Chevrier hopes will inspire a discussion about the acts of everyday heroism that the women in our lives perform.
This exhibition, titled “Les Cages: The Echo of the CRASH! BAM! POW!” is a play on the onomatopoeia used in comic books, and its echo, a product of the discord between the image of superheroes as mighty figures and their reality as human beings who have the same emotional flaws and fragility of any other. To this end, we spoke to Chevrier on the meaning behind her portraits, her choice to paint comic book characters, and what she makes of the resurgence of superheroes in recent years.
What do you make of pop culture’s fascination with superheroes in recent years?
I think there’s a lot of different factors: people in their 30s and 40s especially enjoy remembering their childhood. The ’80s trend of superhero toys (Transformers, G.I. Joe) are also making a comeback in Hollywood productions and it is easy to feel nostalgic about the way superheroes used to make us feel powerful as children. Also, with the prevalence of terrorism these days, it might be a good way to feel safer and feel hopeful when we look at what the superheroes can achieve with their strength and goodness. We need to be saved.
How did you come about with the idea for this series?
I was already working on the Les Cages series before the comic books. The masks were made of very raw and instinctive brush strokes. At one point, I wanted to make the series evolve, so I put it aside for a while. I bought comic books at the flea market thinking I could eventually create something with them, and then I thought about the Les Cages series and worked in some sketches. It turned out to be quite interesting in the use of a pop aesthetic feel, but also in the meaning it would have.
What is it about superheroes that attracted you to paint them?
I was not a comic book fan before I started to work with them. Despite all the playfulness of the thing itself and all the “CRASH BAM POW,” superheroes are also fragile. There is also a certain melancholy in these different faces as if these women have experienced a situation that they did not wish to, as if they were “slaves.” This is exactly the goal of the series, a daily struggle for us all against that which is imposed by society and the very expectations we impose on ourselves. I keep myself busy in many ways: single mom, business woman, artist, the household, romance, errands. It puts a lot on one’s shoulders. We overwork ourselves. We are all slaves to something, of something. When Superman loses his battle against Doomsday, the image of his tattered red cape planted in the ground as a fallen flag has an intense beauty and incredible power. This is just one example among many others. We are merely human; as men and women, we are entitled to our flaws and errors.
What do you think are the parallels between comic art and portrait painting?
These women encased in these cages of comic books that masks their very person symbolizes the struggle that women go through with having false expectations of beauty and perfection, as well as the limitations society places on women, which corrupts true beauty by placing women in these prisons of identity. By doing so, society is asking them to become superheroes.
It seems as if you’re subjects are always female. Why is this?
My work needs to be dissected beyond its surface value, beyond its aesthetic. The portraits are quite literally torn between the fantastical heroics and iconography of comic books, and the harsher underlying tragedy of oppressed female identity and the exposed superficial illusion therein. I’m exhibiting a male-dominated world in my “Cages” — the subjects denounce the role given to the female counterpart, refusing to play the part of seducer or victim. But the subject is also universal; I could work with men and children, as we all have our day-to-day struggles and pressures.
Why did you choose this year to enter the Hong Kong art scene?
When the gallerist May Wong from Above Second Gallery showed an interest in my work and offered me an exhibition during Art Basel in Hong Kong, it was hard to say no even with a very busy schedule! I’ve shown my work in different countries before but this was my first time showing in Asia, a very intriguing new market for me. I feel so lucky that my work lets me travel that much. Hong Kong is literally on the other side of the globe for me, so I seized the chance right away.
What’s your favorite piece in this exhibition? Did you create any work that specifically pertains to the region of Hong Kong?
I might say the “Crash Bam Pow!” cutout portrait might be my favorite. It was an experiment and I really enjoyed how it turned out. In my greater body of work, the images used within the Les Cages series range are taken from scenes of conflict, triumph and defeat. This particular body of work at Above Second Gallery gives focus to the action within the superhero mask imagery that are bigger than what we’ve previously seen in my work. I usually use the comic books themselves or handprint them. This time they were enlarged so the action becomes as important as the portrait itself. The words, the onomatopoeia, as well as images become vehicles for carrying the symbolics or emotional charge of the pieces. The sounds almost becomes audible, as if they were echoing from the portrait — sounds that hide but also live in the action of the comic book storylines.
“Les Cages: The Echo of the CRASH! BAM! POW!” by Sandra Chevrier will be available for viewing at Above Second Gallery through May 7.
Above Second Gallery
9 First St, Sai Ying Pun
Hong Kong, China
