Raymond Gervais has been part of the musical scene since 1973, combining visual arts and music in his installations, videos and performances. Member of the Phonothèque Québécoise, he was a radio-host at Radio-Canada and actively participated in safeguarding the musical heritage, particularly in the fields of jazz, classical and contemporary music. He, himself, practiced music, organized concerts, taught and wrote music, all while giving workshops and conferences. He collects music and related objects, recreating and weaving stories with amazing analogies. Gervais’ interest in music is not only because of its sound dimension but also for the visual aspects of discs, the dreamlike and endless possibilities plastic can offer. As commissioner, he explored the links between album covers and photography in the exhibition PHONO PHOTO, Carte grise by Raymond Gervis in Dazibao in 2001. He was also amongst the artists exposing in Aurora Borealis, part of the Hundred Days of Contemporary Art in Montréal in 1985 and participated in the landmark anthology Broken Music, presented in 1990 at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montréal. On this occasion, he developed, in collaboration with Irene F. Whittome and Rober Racine, a Trio for Samuel Beckett, a disc-book uniting music, voice, texts and images. Raymond Gervais has mostly exhibited in Canada and Europe, his creations can be found at the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Montréal, at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
Traduction: Camila Juarez [ii-15]