The exhibition seeks to draw visitors’ attention to the question of artistic practice as it relates to popular practices, a recurrent dimension of contemporary art in recent years.

In light of the growing body of research supported by current output, it appears that, increasingly, high-quality works are stemming essentially from contact with popular culture, thereby presupposing a broad network of references and, more specifically in the case of this project, with popular art, which implies more extensive reliance on techniques allied in particular with handicrafts, thereby engendering specific know-how.

The exhibition will make the connection between the output of Canadian artists who, while their work presents diversified themes and contents, all come from popular backgrounds without, however, drawing from them sources or references, but their own approach. Such an approach is likely to enlighten the public. It thus underpins practice that hinges on artisanal processes, a mastery of the material, and imagery that is wrongly perceived as superficial. Accordingly, works ranging from direct cutting to digital textile will evoke notions of know-how, reskilling, highbrow and lowbrow, and making and having made.