François Gourd is a man who proudly declares himself to be a professional idiot.
The painter, writer, filmmaker, sculptor, former fool in Cirque du Soleil, satirical politician, and self-described "foolosopher" has just opened an exhibition featuring a retrospective of his work entitled Repentigny, a City Taken Over by Foolosophy.
Gourd not only commits himself to the arts but to spreading good will, raising funds, and organizing events for a plethora of social and community organizations both in Montreal and abroad. In 2003, Gourd travelled through Russia, Tibet, and China with Patch Adams visiting children's hospitals and using the medicine of laughter and his personal mantra of foolosophy as tools for healing. Gourd's profession has literally been to help people find joy and fun in their lives.
"In 2000, I did the Symfolium. It's a 10-day fool's festival with people from the States, from Canada, from Belgium, from France, from England and for 10 days that's lots of foolosophy. I am trying to set up a foolosophy university; I would like to teach foolosophy. People have started to realize that laughing is good for your health -foolosophy is everywhere," he explains.
According to Gourd, foolosophy is generated in the 'creative' side of the brain. "We have two sides of the brain," he says. "The right side is creative and intuitive and the left side is mathematic and reason. For many, many thousands of years the left side has been dominant … Since Descartes's 'I think therefore I am,' … but both sides need to express themselves."
The new exhibit of Gourd's artistic work features paintings, sculptures (including several idea catchers), painted chairs, 40 "crazy coats," and a "salon of foolosophy," a room in which Gourd has painted the walls and floor in a surrealist style. Four of his films will also be shown in a coatroom that has been transformed into a cinema especially for the exhibit. Gourd will be holding a "Foolosopher's café" on September 27-28, to answer questions and discuss his experiences over coffee and brioche. The exhibit sheds light on the diversity and various highlights of the long and broad-ranging career of this imaginative political figure and creator. "I have a lot of fun doing films. I have a lot of fun writing books. I have the same fun with all these expressions," says Gourd of his interdisciplinary ventures.
Gourd also acts as founder and organizer of the Canadian Neorhino party, which runs on the platform of separating Quebec from the rest of Canada and uniting forces with Cuba to form the republic of "Cubec."
"It's not because we don't like the English, but we prefer the Latin… we want to create a new country called Cubec, so we held the council of Cubec the other day and created a new drink called the 'Cubec Libre' … it's maple syrup and Cuban rum," laughs Gourd.
Gourd has pledged to provide the $200 fee and sponsor anyone who wishes to participate in the party. The Neorhino party is following in the footsteps of the Rhinoceros party of Canada, the fourth official political party from the 60s to the 90s that supported such motions as paving Manitoba to create the world's largest parking lot and donating a rhinoceros to every aspiring artist in Canada. As the Neorhino party's candidate in the 2007 federal by-election in Outremont, Gourd cited his profession as "poet" and earned an impressive 145 votes.
"This year we are looking for candidates who just want to express themselves, who are not running against anyone, but who are just running for the 40 per cent of people who don't vote... We will have maybe 10 to 15 candidates in the next election. You should be a candidate!" says Gourd.
Gourd has also been involved in the Entartistes, another satirical political group whose specialty is throwing cream pies in the faces of politicians and other public figures who have been deemed in need of public embarrassment. Although Quebecois politicians are the most commonly targeted, Sylvester Stallone was also a pie recipient during a 1998 promotional tour.
In terms of his artistic work, Gourd cited Picasso and other great painters as his creative inspiration. "I'm inspired by all the people who let themselves go without following the rules of art today. There are no rules to follow when you're an artist. You have to just be," Gourd says.
The imaginative and whimsical artwork in Gourd's exhibit displays his personal philosophy (or foolosophy, one might say) that "When people are creative we will have a nicer world."
Repentigny, a City Taken Over by Foolosophy will be exhibiting Gourd's work to the public, free of charge, until September 28 at the Repentigny Exhibition Centre.
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Adriana
posted 10/08/08 @ 3:54 PM EST
cubec libre is what you drink after some "poutine avec mojo", right?
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