dc3 Art Projects is proud to present Two Old Friends Play Chess, an exhibition by Evergon + Jean-Jacques Ringuette, aka Chromogenic Curmudgeons. Created under the pseudonyms Celluloso Evergonni and Gigi Angeletti, three distinct series of large-scale photographic works are presented here that were made by the duo during a period in which Evergon was housebound. Painterly in both form and content, the series of still lifes/landscapes, volcanos and Rorschach’s create psychological spaces that serve as portraits of both the artists and of the viewers.

‘’For years I spent my creative time globe trotting in search of Ramboys, Cruizing Grounds and/or Homo-Baroque/Rococo productions in the Polaroid studios of New York, Boston and Frankfurt.

Three years ago my body failed me. I became ill and with this I was confined to my home/studio i.e. housebound.

But in an act of defiance and remembrance, I started to work in tandem with Jean-Jacques Ringuette, my long-time collaborator. From memorabilia, we produced a series of photo/paintings of still-lifes/landscapes titled Two Old Friends Play Chess.

We danced around each other, we parried, we counter-charged, we trumped each other as queen fiends – no time for a king. It was a courtship of physicality, equality, creativity, and good fun.

Our creative process is well beyond a simple collaboration: our works would not exist without the contribution of the both of us.”

– Evergon, Summer 2017

Evergon (b. 1946, Niagara Falls, ON, Canada) lives and works in Montréal. He holds an MFA from the Rochester Institute of Technology and his work has been the subject of numerous major solo exhibitions. His work is found in private and public collections in Canada, the United States and internationally, including the National Gallery of Canada, The Photographer’s Gallery, the Canada Council Art Bank, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art, the Princeton Collection, the Vancouver Art Gallery and the Winnipeg Art Gallery.

Jean-Jacques Ringuette (b. 1961, Trois-Rivières, QC, Canada) is a Montréal-based photographer whose work has been shown throughout Europe, the United States and Canada. He holds an MFA in Photography from Concordia University and his work is found in numerous private collections, as well as the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

Evergon and Ringuette have been working together since 2015 under the name Chromogenic Curmudgeons and the duo were recently featured in the 35th Anniversary issue of Blackflash.