My photography is inspired by my consumption of pop culture iconography and my love of documentary imagery . Whether adhering to a more traditional aesthetic, or approaching it in an ironic way, I enjoy playing with and/or subverting the traditions of documentary.
Between 1990 and 1997 I produced a series of environmental portraits, entitled CLOTHES MINDED, featuring subjects in various stages of drag, in both personal and private spaces. The objective of this work was to challenge and instigate debate about our socially constructed and engendered roles in society. It also sought to investigate the premise that we are all in various forms of drag in every day life, since every type of costume we wear has been socially constructed.
My work to date has been informed by the idea of duality or multiplicity of character; the idea that we ,as individuals, embody many different identities, with diverse personae. I am interested in the process of transformation, and what happens when individuals are given the opportunity to express different facets of their personalities. A theme which pervades my work is one of artifice, of deliberately blurring the lines between the real and the unreal, between what is captured naturally and what is created imaginatively.
Personae:
My new series entitled Personae continues my investigation of identity. In this series I have created digital images which make the viewer question not only superficial elements such as the gender of the subjects represented in the image, but also question the truthfulness of "documentary", or photography itself. By moving between art and document I am deliberately blurring lines, thus subverting documentary on every level, from the capturing of a supposed real moment, to the viewers perception of what she or he is actually looking at.
Pierre Dalpé
2001
Pierre Dalpé is a Montreal based artist. He completed an undergraduate degree in film studies and photography at Concordia University in 1993. Since completing his BFA he has participated in several group shows throughout Canada and has had two solo shows in Montreal. In 1997 Dalpé began fusing his photography with digital imaging and in 1999 he received a grant from the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec to allow him to attend the Banff Centre for the Arts. It was in Banff that he began producing his latest body of digitally manipulated work entitled Personae.
b. 1964, Kindersley, Saskatchewan
Education
BFA Concordia University, 1993
DEC Dawson Institute of Photography, 1985
Solo Shows
1997 Galerie Pink, Montreal - Clothes Minded: New Work.
1993 Galerie Sékai, Montreal - Clothes Minded.
Group Shows
1998 Galerie Mistral, Montreal - Impressions de New York Impressions.
1997 The New gallery, Calgary - Drag City.
1996 A.K.A. Gallery, Saskatoon - Drag City.
Ace Art Inc., Winnipeg - Drag City.
Leslie-Lohman Gallery, New York City - Annual Group PhotoShow.
1995 Galerie Entrecadre, Montreal - Lieux Urbains.
1993 Axe Néo-7, Hull, Que. - Ex-Site. Outdoor slide-dissolve of Clothes Minded.
1992 Galerie Lieu Ouest, Montreal - Bleu.
Media / Reviews
1997 Review of Clothes Minded by Lucinda Catchlove in Hour magazine.
1993 Review of Clothes Minded by Henry Lehman, on C.B.C.radio’s "Daybreak".
1993 News story about Clothes Minded on C.B.C. television’s "City Beat".
Published Work
1997 Hour magazine, Montreal.
1996 Now magazine, Toronto.
1993 Mirror magazine, Montreal.
Awards
1999 Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec - Bourse de
Perfectionnement (grant for Banff Centre self-directed residency).
Residencies + Positions
2000 Saidye Bronfman Centre for the Arts - Teaching intermediate B&W photo.
Banff Centre for the Arts - photography and computer work-study during
5 week thematic residency: The Big City.
1999 Banff Centre for the Arts - 9 Week Self-Directed Residency.
