Reviews

Toronto-based artist de Montmollin goes for the jugular—as well as the jocular—in this show. Titled “Stephen Harper Hates Me,” it takes the prime minister’s political decisions as a personal affront, pasting images of the politician into various studio scenes and interjecting whimsical figures and masks into press photos of him as well

Selected by Canadian Art as one of "Nine Shows We Want to See This Spring (Besides Venice)"

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Gabrielle de Montmollin’s luminous black and white photographs are stunning. She named them “Untitled” but to me they bring to mind the mystery of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

(review of 'Equus' at the Mehu Gallery by Maximillien de Lafayette, World Jewish News Agency)

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Bird Women is an overview of the most recent work of Gabrielle de Montmollin.  It marks a new step in her work: the images are more sober but still keep the dynamism so typical for her images. I like to compare these photos to a classical Greek play.  First you have the presentation of the characters and then you have the play.  In this set of pictures you have the presentation of five mythical actors with masks. The movement of the characters inspire the spectator to make his own play.  The strong figures are dancing a mythical dance which is accentuated by the bird-mask.  They are strong images that are like icons.

Now it's waiting to the first act of the play.

(Xavier Debeerst, AnamorFose)

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Gabrielle de Montmollin uses a film camera to photograph Barbie Dolls and finger puppets in black and white photographs. Her art is truly impressive and very thought provoking. By limiting herself to using just these materials she is forcing her mind to figure out all of the creative possibilities that can be done with these photography subjects, and has taken her art to a very refined state that couldn't be matched by anyone else with the same materials.

Here is a quote from Gabrielle from my interview with her: "It's interesting to have limitations. I find that's what really pushes you in terms of content. Because then you just have to keep going deeper and deeper to find what's there. If you have too much choice, you never really get anywhere.

(Raven, Techist Magazine)

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The surrealistic world of Gabrielle de Montmollin's photography can be likened to a fiction novel, which in some strange way has become a reality in itself. Gabrielle's depictions of dolls is one of the most elaborate concoctions of actual reality our staff has ever seen at Profotos.

Lying beneath the surface of Gabrielle's creations is an alternate dimension of mysterious, and often haunting emotions and ideas. While Gabrielle composes her images to evoke certain ideas and thought patterns in her viewers' minds, her images open a world of ideas to the viewer, which allows them to draw their own conclusions about the content of her works. This subconscious process within the viewer's mind is an incredible facet within Gabrielle's photography, which is very difficult to duplicate.

The mastery of Gabrielle's work is something many photographers and artists strive to achieve. This level of conscious and unconscious image creation is realized by very few artists - Gabrielle is one of these artists whose creations have achieved this goal.

Let your mind roam freely as you review Gabrielle's portfolio - your subconscious will open up to new realities and dimensions of actual reality. The realm of philosophical and theoretical ideas is yours for the taking...

(Larry Davis, Profotos)

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Using plastic Barbie dolls, vegetables and toy animals, Toronto-based art photographer Gabrielle de Montmollin creates allegories of nature, womanhood and dreams. At once seductive and vaguely sinister, the images form fantasy landscapes that lead viewers to chuckle while trying to reconcile the storytelling elements they contain.

(B.J. Navarro, fotophile.com)