Abstract

As an artist committed to social and cultural change, Armand Vaillancourt considers his art to be a tool in generating social transformation. The monumental projects he has produced over the years, as much as his performances are not only an end product, but are equally vehicles for engendering controversy and social dialogue. Vaillancourt's image as an avant garde artist is parenthetical to his art which has seldom been looked at in any depth though it has generated a lot of media attention. His bois brules, and The Tree of Durocher St., reflected a search for interiority through materials. Quebec libre and Je me souviens were both abstract and monumental, but the aesthetic is structural yet the process embodies principles of speed and scale. The rapport between structure and materials, between architecture and monumental sculpture emerges at the same time as his political manifestations and happenings. Vaillancourt's perception of the role of the public monument is classical, in that it embodies values of permanence, but his political gestures advocate social change. This thesis presents a chronological overview of Vaillancourt's public sculpture, from The Tree of Durocher, his first, to his most recent, Song of the Nations.