Image: Galerie Simon Blais, Montréal
Marc Séguin has developed a new series of oil-on-canvas paintings from an encounter with the remains of an old bridge in Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula, a site connected to the Wilbert Coffin case. The series, titled ‘Random Forest’, was presented in a Galerie Simon Blais newsletter dated August 27, 2026, although the supplied material does not specify an exhibition title, presentation dates or a venue for the paintings.
According to the newsletter, Séguin was fishing in the Gaspé Peninsula the previous year when he discovered vestiges of the bridge on either side of a river. After learning that he was at the location associated with the case, he returned to the story of Wilbert Coffin, who was accused of murdering three American hunters in 1953. The case continues to raise questions more than seven decades later, the gallery’s text says.
The account identifies a line from a 1987 news report as especially important to Séguin’s response: ‘Only nature knows the truth.’ The phrase places the landscape at the centre of the series’ conceptual framework, not simply as a setting for a historical event but as the silent witness invoked by the artist’s investigation.
The title ‘Random Forest’ combines two references. It alludes to the statistical and computational algorithm of the same name, while also suggesting the forest’s ‘silent wisdom’ and its supposed role as the only true witness to what happened. The paintings therefore take their point of departure from a specific place and unresolved historical narrative, while the title introduces a connection to systems of calculation and interpretation.
The announcement does not provide the number, dimensions or individual titles of the works in the series. It also does not state whether ‘Random Forest’ is currently on view at Galerie Simon Blais. The gallery’s website lists Séguin among its artists, but the linked exhibition pages supplied with the announcement return 404 errors, leaving no independently confirmed schedule for this presentation.
Galerie Simon Blais, located at 5420 Saint-Laurent Boulevard in Montréal, says it has presented emerging and established artists since 1989 across painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking and photography. Its newsletter also announced other programming, including a Denis Juneau exhibition scheduled for September 9 through October 24, 2026, but those projects are separate from the information provided about Séguin’s ‘Random Forest’ series.
