Sur la route 199 — 15×20 cm
Exhibition
Sur la route 199
Café de la Grave, Îles-de-la-Madeleine · 11–31 July 2022
“The road is life, said Jack Kerouac. And on the island road above all, taken slowly, you can walk right into the scenery! There is so much of the infinite to see — so much sea, so much sky, so many dunes, so many surprises, so much blue, so much beauty!”
“It is a playful ramble from one end of the Islands to the other, along this road every Madelinot knows.”
“I take my time discovering Route 199 — its landscapes, of course, but also the odd and the playful, with a nod to pop art in between, catching hold of everyday things.”
Route 199 is the only road through the Îles-de-la-Madeleine. It threads the whole archipelago, and it is singular in this: it begins and ends in the sea. At the far end you have to turn around. The transport ministry planted a sign at each extremity — one reads Fin 199, the other 80 m from the sea.
Fred drew twenty-nine canvases from it, painted between 2020 and 2022. Landscapes, yes: La Martinique, the Vieux-Couvent, the church at sundown. But also what one does not usually paint — a traffic light, a fire hydrant, a utility pole, a seal-crossing sign, and the giant cone of the dairy bar at L'Étang-du-Nord.
It was his fourth exhibition at Café de la Grave. The opening was held on 11 July; several canvases had already sold that evening. 22 of them are online here.
The 22 canvases online
Largest formats first. Titles, materials and dimensions taken from the labels in the exhibition book.
Still missing
The hang held **twenty-nine canvases**. Sixteen are here. The other thirteen have no photograph of sufficient quality yet — Transformation, Je flashe pour toi, Km 1,1, Km 11,0, Prévisible sur la 199, Le Canseau de la 199, Km 0, 292 route 199 Havre aux Maisons, Virage à gauche, 1316 route 199, Avant la nuit II, Hôtel de la Grave II, En route vers II. Titles, materials, dimensions, dates and prices are all known: only the images are wanting, and they are awaited at full resolution.
In the press
Le Radar covered the opening. “Route 199 is not connected to the province's road network,” the piece notes: you cannot drive around the Islands — once at the end, you retrace your steps. Fred's previous show at Café de la Grave, in 2020, was called Le paradis.
Dominique Jutras, « Sur la route 199 », Le Radar, vol. 53 nº 26, semaine du 15 au 21 juillet 2022, p. 15.