Sylvain Lessard: Monuments
Before 1990, hundreds of 鈥渟pomeniks鈥� once stood across the Balkan countryside. Built during the 1960s and 70s, and intended as non-partisan monuments to tragic events that occurred during the Second World War, their 鈥榥eutral鈥� abstract designs aligned with the optimism and futuristic aesthetics of the times. When civil war overtook Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the spomeniks became targets of ire, and were vandalized or dismantled. At the time, the structures were seen as painful symbols of the national unity that failed to materialize after World War II.
While conducting research at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, artist and architect Sylvain Lessard discovered the spomeniks through the work of Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers, who, in 2006, started documenting those that remain. 鈥淚 learned about Soviet war monuments in classes, but I鈥檇 never heard of these,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 liked how they were inspired by dreams of unity and how the architects approached them as artworks.鈥�
When he first started painting, Lessard wanted to emulate the hard-edged abstraction of Guido Molinari, whose best-known works are composed of large blocks of colour. 鈥淭hey look easy to paint, but it鈥檚 really quite difficult,鈥� says Lessard. 鈥淵ou have to be very aware of how colours interact with each other.鈥�
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Before 1990, hundreds of 鈥渟pomeniks鈥� once stood across the Balkan countryside. Built during the 1960s and 70s, and intended as non-partisan monuments to tragic events that occurred during the Second World War, their 鈥榥eutral鈥� abstract designs aligned with the optimism and futuristic aesthetics of the times. When civil war overtook Yugoslavia in the 1990s, the spomeniks became targets of ire, and were vandalized or dismantled. At the time, the structures were seen as painful symbols of the national unity that failed to materialize after World War II.
While conducting research at the Canadian Centre for Architecture, artist and architect Sylvain Lessard discovered the spomeniks through the work of Antwerp-based photographer Jan Kempenaers, who, in 2006, started documenting those that remain. 鈥淚 learned about Soviet war monuments in classes, but I鈥檇 never heard of these,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 liked how they were inspired by dreams of unity and how the architects approached them as artworks.鈥�
When he first started painting, Lessard wanted to emulate the hard-edged abstraction of Guido Molinari, whose best-known works are composed of large blocks of colour. 鈥淭hey look easy to paint, but it鈥檚 really quite difficult,鈥� says Lessard. 鈥淵ou have to be very aware of how colours interact with each other.鈥�
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