Daniel Dion Su Schnee Bryan Mulvihill Richard Gagnier Claude-Marie Caron Reflections: An exhibition honouring the life and art of Daniel Dion (1958-2014)

Date(s): Nov 7 to Dec 12 2015

Exhibition

Daniel Dion, 2000

Curator: Su Schnee, OBORO’s cofounder and life partner of Daniel Dion.

Presented one year after the death of Daniel Dion, artist and cofounder of OBORO, this exhibition traces the poetic portrait of a visionary artist who has had an undeniable impact on the cultural milieu and on a diverse range of artists. Going back into the personal archives of her life companion, Su Schnee, the cofounder of OBORO, has assembled a selection of works and objects that exemplify Daniel Dion’s unique practice. With the assistance of several members of OBORO’s “extended family,” Schnee and Bryan Mulvihill, a long time friend and collaborator, have posthumously created two works conceived with Dion, one of which is the centrepiece of the exhibition: a mobile tea room where Mulvihill, alias Trolley Bus, will hold the Chanoyu, the Japanese tea ceremony, commemorating Daniel’s life.

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Further readings:

le Devoir, October 3, 2014

Daniel Dion, 2000

First and foremost an artist, Daniel Dion (1958-2014) contributed to the development of media and digital practices from the beginning of his career in the 1980s. Interested in the theoretical, aesthetic and spiritual paradigms that bridge art and communication, Daniel Dion instigated many transcultural exchanges between artists from Canada, India, Mexico, Cuba, Japan and European countries.

Su Schnee, aka suschnee, has been a practicing artist for more than 40 years. She is the co-founder of OBORO and, in the function of artistic director for many decades, has been a key contributor to the development and success of the organisation. Su has collaborated with Daniel Dion and Bryan Mulvihill since the early 1980s on an on-going basis.

Bryan Mulvihill (aka trolley bus) has exhibited, internationally, calligraphy, ink brush painting, photography, conceptual live art, mail art, multimedia and curatorial-based works since the 1960s in solo and collaborative ventures. He has studied academically, and under numerous living masters, global culture with a focus on the nature of consciousness and human rituals of interaction. Bryan collaborated with Daniel Dion and Su Schnee since the early 1980s.

Richard Gagnier was involved for a long time with the artist-run centre AXENÉO7 in Gatineau, where he curated over a dozen exhibitions. He is currently the President of the Board of Directors of Artexte and has sat on the Board of Directors of the Ottawa Art Gallery. Since 2007, he has been the Head of Conservation at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Claude-Marie Caron discovered yoga, tai chi chuan, Eastern philosophy, visual arts, and theater in the early 1970s. He met Daniel Dion in 1978, and their friendship was instantaneous. Around the same time, Caron invented the word OBORO to describe the thunder of galloping horses without suspecting that this word would have another destiny. He had exhibitions and did performances in Montreal, New York, Toronto, and Vancouver, including Bansaï in 1985 with Su and Daniel. At the same time, Caron also experienced teaching as a form of creation.