I. Lent et douloureux (D major / D minor) 


II. Lent et triste (C major) 


III. Lent et grave (A minor)

Performance instructions for Erik Satie’s Gymnopédies trilogy (1888)

Gymnopédies is a trilogy of piano music by French composer Erik Satie. True to Satie’s broader oeuvre, the works resemble each other—a melancholic ode to iteration that demonstrates his capacity for subtle, yet disjointed and deliberate, variation in tone and melody. Regarded as a prototypical proponent of ambient music, Satie’s compositions amount to a series of gentle, yet formally provocative explorations of sound and atmosphere. An uneven number, the Gymnopédies trio echo themselves, establishing a captivating arena to contemplate the eect of inference and pacing on their overall emotional register.

With this, I welcome you to Gymnopédies, a solo exhibition by Fiona Nguyen hosted by Pangée, Montréal in their Atelier and Le Trou spaces. Bearing witness to the progression of Fiona’s work over the last few years, I have come to understand the ways her practice explores themes that intersect with Satie’s work, through means of iteration, ambience, asynchrony, and soft melodrama.

Nguyen’s recent works are a collection of oil paintings on canvas and small pencil drawings presented in CD jewel cases that build on her long standing research into the impacts of environmental warfare, particularly the impact of the US army’s Agent Orange herbicide campaign in the Vietnam War. Employing autofiction as a narrative and meditative tool, Nguyen’s compositions in Gymnopédies explore the revolutionary potential of song as a tool for (collective) repair. Gymnopédies presents a series of scenes—partly fictional, partly based in the realities of ecocidal warfare—set in landscapes captured in a process of regeneration. The paintings verge on the supernatural, yet they are anchored in the reality of a population that has lived for generations on soil contaminated by herbicidal warfare, enduring health concerns spanning a variety of cancers and birth defects. Forests, ponds, and sand dunes appear lush, sometimes punctuated with the mutated forms of species that have undergone physical changes due to chemical exposure. These plants and figures are not depicted in a state of suering, though their pain and resilience is implied. Rather, the flora appear in a state of regrowth, and Nguyen’s figures appear to be singing  

Themes of iteration, echoes, and rupture are palpable throughout the exhibition, through her ongoing CD cover series, and in several recurring figures in the paintings. In The Bolero Eect (2024), two twin-like beings appear, mid-song, in long robes that melt into their reflection in the water at the bottom of the scene. Referencing Bolero, a romantic genre that originated in 19th CE Cuba but gained popularity in Southern Vietnam during the Vietnam War, Nguyen reflects on histories where music is used as a tool to convey cultural identity and conceal political messages. 50% n-Butyl ester 2,4,-D; 50% n-butyl ester 2,4,5-T (2024), a painting named after the exact chemical composition of the Agent Orange herbicide, depicts a female figure molting into her landscape, becoming one with her environment, donning ornamental tears reminiscent of historic icon painting. Nguyen imagines hypothetical album covers in her series of colourful pencil drawings encapsulated by nostalgic jewel cases. Imagining the fullness of themes and emotions explored within an album, Nguyen’s CD album artworks serve as a means to expand the world of her paintings. They introduce new protagonists and capture details of polluted landscapes in states of repair.

Satie’s Gymnopédies were named after the Gymnopaedia, an ancient Spartan ritual where men sang and danced naked (or “unarmed” as it’s been described). Interpretations for the significance of the Gymnopaedia are vast, some consider it a rite of passage for young men, while others believe the vulnerability of dancing “unarmed” was a way of marking the end of a battle: a celebration marking the return of peace. At the moment of writing this, the world reverberates with the unthinkable violence of war and genocide. We are not dancing this year. Amid cycles of what feels like ceaseless suering, Gymnopédies serve as a reminder of the importance of hope, and the tireless labour of imagining a world that doesn’t finish with repair, but with flourishing.

Text by Danica Pinteric

Fiona Nguyen (b. 1995, Montreal) is a visual artist based in Montreal, Quebec. She uses the history and legacy of Pop Music as an architecture to think and investigate political conflicts and wars lived in the everyday life of civilians. Her current research focuses on systems of cultural censorship and self-censorship experienced in totalitarian and authoritarian regimes in contemporary history, as well as the on-going impact of chemical weapons on the environment. Fiona Nguyen received her BFA in Painting and Drawing from Concordia University in 2021 and a grant from Conseil des Arts et Lettres du Québec in 2023. Her most recent shows in 2024 and 2023 include La Foudre at Westlab+Gallery (NYC), Céline Bureau Residency Show at Céline Bureau (MTL) and Art Volt Collection Launch at Livart (MTL).