Les passagers
David Armstrong VI
Brossard Station
Artist: David Armstrong VI
Originally from Ontario, David Armstrong VI lives and works in Montréal. His works are an intuitive fusion of forms, textures, colours and objects. As spectators, we are drawn beyond a single vantage point to take in his work and are compelled to approach his sculptures from different angles to appreciate the multiple facets of the shapes and materials at play.
About the art installation
For the Brossard station, David Armstrong VI has created a set of two sculptures (diptych) named Les passagers, reflecting the very essence of public transit.
This diptych combines aggregates of cast bronze, rippling ribbons and alternating vibrant colours.
In the artist’s vision, these two figures sharing plant-like, animalistic and human traits with their suitcase or backpack, belong to both past and future. David Armstrong VI has sculpted the rippling forms as if they were alive. One could imagine that the forms are like two fearless travellers from a different era, swept along by a force in perpetual motion.
An observer, taking in the sculpture from different perspectives, can appreciate the cast bronze aggregate alternating between the abstract and the figurative. The rippling shapes and colours of the ribbons are reminiscent of the past, with the flamboyant scarves and belts typical of 18th century ramblers, travellers and fur traders. Their luggage, however, brings us back to modern society.
“In contemplating the site at one end of the REM’s Brossard station, I found comfort in the multitude of artistic anecdotes and philosophical reflections inspired by this unique, yet daily, experience of train travel.”
