Maskull Lasserre
I first saw Maskull Lassere’s sculptures in 2011 at an art gallery in the Belgo Building in downtown Montreal. To tell the truth I saw a photo of one of his pieces on Colossal and got so excited I rushed straight over on my lunch break.
His snake skeleton axe entitled Secret Carpentry is one of the most superb sculptural objects I’ve ever seen and don’t miss his work with computer software manuals,newspapers, coat hangers, and tree branches. Lasserre is currently part of a group exhibition at the Pierre-François Ouellette art contemporain (PFOAC) in Montreal through August 6, followed by a solo show in the same space starting in November.
– Colossal
Maskull Lasserre – Secret Carpentry
It was pretty interesting work, carving intricate skeletal details out of bits of furniture and other household items, like this piece where he carved the lower jaw of a child into the corner of a picture frame.
Maskull Lasserre – Oracle
Anyhow, to be honest I kind of forgot about Lasserre which is rather shameful as not only do I really like his work, but he is Montreal artist and even has his studio in my neighbourhood. My reminder came yesterday via booooooom in the form of an excellent post about Lasserre’s newest work, a series entitled “Fable”, which I am quite taken with – especially this piece, “Rat”.
I really enjoy Lasserre’s repurposing of everday objects into these delicate, intricately detailed memento mori-ish sculptures. Beyond the artistic mastery of it all, I have enjoyed a lifelong fascination with skeletal anatomy so these works speak to me on a very personal level. The transformative aspect of Lasserre’s work is intriguing, too, and is discussed briefly in an interview in Canadian Art last year:
His themes are what he terms “elemental,” which partially explains their dramatic appeal. Lasserre examines death, music, literature, beauty, pain, purpose and integrity (both structural and philosophical) through eerily complex representations of transformed tools, skeletons and animal parts that indicate a mastery of welding, forging, mechanical engineering, musical-instrument design and weapons making. Some of his pieces have incredible heft—he builds full-size pianos—while others are fragility embodied. One recent work, Murder (2012), features 19 crows and ravens he sculpted out of wood and then charred so that they disintegrate at the merest touch. It was exhibited in a group show at New York’s Museum of Arts and Design earlier this year, along with a work by Andy Goldsworthy.
– Canadian Art
In any case I’m definitely going to make the effort to keep Lasserre on my radar, as I’m really looking forward to seeing these new pieces in person. More of Lasserre’s work can be seen on his website. In parting, I leave you with this video of the artist a work via an interview from the Daily Mail (UK) .
