View from the top

The photograph,aptly titled From Where I Live,consists of hundreds of fragments,some even shot at different times of the day,which have been put together digitally to produce an image of his entire apartment in Montreal. The image looks like any ordinary day in an individual’s house,and that is exactly how Paiement intends it to be,describing his work as “domestic or mundane scenes in a private space shot from above”. Despite the anonymity of the subject,the artist explains that “there is always someone or something in the picture looking back at you,that makes you conscious of your viewing of the picture”. The cat in From Where I Live serves this purpose.

The extraordinary Arrangements According to Nature consists of two pieces — the first,an apartment decorated by a man and the second is decorated by a woman. While every inch of the former screams masculinity,with walls adorned by trophy heads from hunting trips and a room dedicated exclusively to fitness,the latter just as emphatically stresses on the feminine,with delicate flowers and silk sheets gracing the rooms.

It is then,perhaps,safe to say that one may never find a more suitable moment to use the adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” than at an exhibition of Paiement’s photography.