MAIN SPACE EXHIBITION
JULY 10 – AUGUST 1, 1992
RECEPTION: FRIDAY, JULY 10, 1992 AT 8 PM
ARTIST TALK: SATURDAY, JULY 18, 1992 AT 2 PM

LOCATION – STRIDE GALLERY
722, 11 AVE S.W, CALGARY, ALBERTA

EXHIBITION TEXT

In my sculptures I balance ambiguously between forms derived from the natural and the industrial, the found and the constructed, the raw and the defined. These forms are derived from industrial images and toys and are humanistic in their approach and intent. My work is kinetic – constructed of balanced symmetrical forms, which create a duality between implied monumentality and active changing form. I use modernist aesthetic values; such as consideration of line, form and color to entice the viewer into approaching the work. I purposely leave the sculptures’ simple mechanisms of counter weights and pivots exposed to communicate to the viewer the potential for their participation and interaction. This interaction challenges traditional viewer-object relationships by allowing touch, sound, and site to become an integral part of the piece thus thwarting the viewers visual complacency. It also breaks down the preciousness that a gallery context creates and allows a more direct interaction between viewer, sculpture, and environment.

Outdoor settings offer an alternate space in which these relationships can be further explored. In an outdoor setting, scale and permanence become tools in which to expand the relationship between the viewer, object, and the environment. The outdoor environment directly effects the permanence of the work and is enhanced by my use of temporal materials such as paper and found wood objects in key sections of each work. This, in turn, relates directly back to the implied monumentality of my work and further enhances this duality.