Window exhibition by Markus Denil & Marval Rex

AMERICAN MASCULINITY: La Centrale brings the visual and conceptual language of Markus Denil and Marval Rex’s ongoing project to Montreal. This installation, featuring five ‘flags’ printed on silk organza, hangs in the storefront windows of La Centrale’s gallery. Each ‘flag’ features stills from the AMERICAN MASCULINITY film, a multi-layered art film that explores the complexities of contemporary transmasculine identity through a hybrid of analog and digital imagery. The ‘flags’ hang staggered, allowing the translucent silk material to create a layered effect as viewers experience the work from the street.

The translucent images overlap and bleed into one another, bodies and forms merge. This interplay of images evokes the spectral nature of the transmasculine experience—at once  present and absent, visible and invisible. Hanging the ‘flags’ in the windows emphasizes their performative aspect,—calling attention to the tension between private and public space, between the desire for visibility and the constant erasure of transgender men in mainstream culture. 

Excerpts from the AMERICAN MASCULINITY film’s narration are transcribed in vinyl and applied directly to the windows, overlaying text onto image. The fragmented phrases interrupt and reshape what is visible, so that meaning arises not from the text alone but from the viewer’s engagement with it. This dialogue between text and image mirrors the work’s performative premise: visibility and identity are shown as acts in progress—something done, not simply shown.

Through this installation we invite viewers to confront the tension between the idealization of masculinity and the lived realities of transmasculine people. This is not just an artwork, but a reclamation of space, a declaration of presence in the face of historical and contemporary forces of erasure. AMERICAN MASCULINITY: La Centrale is both a reflection on the shifting nature of identity in the 21st century and an urgent call to acknowledge the many complex ways in which masculinity can manifest—fluidly, transgressively, and in defiance of oppressive systems.

About the artists

Markus Denil is a queer trans Jewish fag from the shores of the Atlantic Ocean in rural Nova Scotia, Canada where he grew up with few rules or limitations as the unruly middle child of two Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) University educated artists. He is a transdisciplinary maker and instigator, causing mischief wherever he goes. His intrusive thoughts of existential dread and persistent restlessness fuel his sense of urgency and productive output. Markus received a BFA in studio art with a minor in interdisciplinary studies in sexuality from Concordia University, Montreal, and an MFA in studio art from Syracuse University. Markus has shown work across the US and Canada; he had a solo exhibition at LAST Projects in Los Angeles, California, and was a featured artist in Nuit Blanche YXE in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. 

Marval Rex is a transmasculine, Catalan-American actor, artist, stand-up comedian and professional astrologer. Rex has directed and performed in genre-bending live artworks and films for over a decade. He is the mastermind behind Big Dad Energy, the world’s first exclusively trans masculine comedy show featuring the likes of Joey Soloway and drag king and actor Murray Hill. Rex has acted in numerous film projects including the Emmy Winning “Book of Queer”, and the 2025 psychological thriller, “House of Abraham”. He is currently working on a one man show about his surprise Sephardic Jewish roots with support from REBOOT Studios. Rex is represented by Angela Durden at Citizen Skull Management.

Window exhibitions at La Centrale

Why a window exhibition, rather than an indoor one? Our centre closes its doors twice a year, in winter and summer, so that the team can rest and recharge. So we've developed a program specially designed for our storefront, which brings the centre's window to life in our absence. Passers-by on Boulevard Saint-Laurent can discover the work of one or more Montréal/Tiohtià:ke artists as they stroll by. These exhibitions generally last around six weeks. The gallery space is not open to the public, except by appointment.

Please write to communication@lacentrale.org if you’d like to schedule a guided visit.