Montreal sculptor will represent Canada at 2007 Venice Biennale

A Canadian who incorporates elements of fantasy and the grotesque into his sculptures will represent Canada at the 2007 Venice Biennale of Visual Art.

David Altmejd, 32, a Montrealer who works in New York and London, was chosen by a Canada Council jury in a nationwide competition.

His name was put forward by the Galerie de l'Université du Québec à Montréal, which is also organizing a nationwide tour of his work next year.

Altmejd's work will fill the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a space that tries to bring some of Canada's natural wonder with it, with a grove of trees outside and abundant natural light.

Natural elements

Altmejd doesn't yet know what kind of work he'll create for the space, but he says he wants to incorporate some natural elements.

"I see an aviary with a lot of weird birds," he told CBC Arts Online, speaking from London on Tuesday.

He also maycreate a colossus, similar to The Giant, a work that is currently being shown at London's Modern Art Inc. gallery.

"I've always been interested in the human body," Altmejd said. "I work a lot with werewolf parts and figures, which are very human-like. When I work, the body is like a universe where I can lose myself.

"The giant isa … metaphor for the landscape, nature and the mountains. It is a way I can work on the landscape through a body."

Objects from fairytales

Altmejd's work features geometric elements such as cubes, boxesand steps, mixed with body parts and images and objects out of fairytales,including jewels and sprays of flowers.

A David Cronenberg fan, Altmejdsays the grotesque has been a recurring fascination for him.

"Fantasy is a device I use to put the real aspect in perspective," he said.

Louise Déry, the director of Galerie de l'UQAM, says she believes the fantastic and grotesque items in Altmejd's sculptures give them a playful, optimistic quality that appeals to the young.

"It's a curious paradox," she said. "He creates a world where some things are very ugly and some are very glamorous, like the jewels."

"You understand there is something positive about it. It's not expressing the terrible world we live in, but something more hopeful."

Fantastic elements

Déry said she has followed Altmejd's work for the last 10 years and seen him develop the fantastic elements into a more coherent vision.

The artist was educated at Université du Québec á Montreal and Columbia University in New York City, and has a continuing connection with the Andrea Rosen gallery there.

In 2003, he participated in the Istanbul Biennial and, in 2004, his work was accepted for the Whitney Biennial of American Art in New York.Altmejd has also sold works to New York's Guggenheim Museum and two of those works are touring now in Bonn, Germany.

"A lot of people know his work, but he's still a young talent," Déry said.

Altmejd was chosen by a committee of three experts in contemporary art from across the country. The selection process is co-ordinated by the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Gallery of Canada, and Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

The 2006 Venice Biennale in Architecture will feature SweaterLodge, a giant fleece pavilion designed by Vancouver architects Bill Pechet and Stephanie Robb.