Operated by the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society

Current Exhibit: June 24 - September 3, 2005

Home
Current Exhibit
Future Exhibits
Past Exhibits

View images of Alberta Sculptures

International Influences in Contemporary Alberta Sculpture

The Modern Art Movement was instrumental in shaping contemporary Alberta sculpture. The visual arts institutions with their attractive exhibition programming, symposia and publications were all critical to the establishment of new trends and studio practices.

Form-Space-Concept-Metaphor highlights the artistic achievements of those Alberta sculptors who have explored fresh conceptual and formalistic parameters in their works, challenged traditional understanding and function of sculpture, and have elevated contemporary sculpture of this Province to national and international prominence.

See Image Details

Form-Space-Concept-Metaphor: Contemporary Alberta Sculpture

Alberta sculpture is a pluralistic phenomenon, identifiable by a rich diversity of artistic styles, individual goals and innovative studio practices.

Form-Space-Concept-Metaphor: Contemporary Alberta Sculpture - a thirty-years survey of studio trends in this province - celebrates the distinctive vision of each of the participant sculptors: Ray Arnatt, Catherine Burgess, Isla Burns, Faye Heavyshield, Katie Ohe, Eric Cameron, Nicholas Roukes, Ron Kostyniuk, Peter Hide, Ben McLeod, Ian Cook, Adrian Cooke, Walter May, Gordon Ferguson, Bart Habermiller, Mark Dicey, Ron Kanashiro, Alan Reynolds, Roy Leadbeater, Evan Penny, Reinhard Skoracki, Blake Senini, Honsun Chu, Merv Krivoshein, Graham Page, Tim Watkins, Andrew Klimczak, Alexander Caldwell, Joan Kendrick, and Paul Leathers. Also, this exhibition discusses - amongst other aspects - an influence of the international sculptors: Alexander Archipenko, Jean Arp, Jacques Lipchitz, Henry Moore, Anthony Caro, Michael Steiner, and David Smith in the works by some of Alberta artists.

Edmund Feldman - an internationally renowned art critic - correctly notes that the history of sculpture is the history of innovation in material and technique, changes in form, concept, and shifts in the interrelations of the various sculptural media. Since the second half of the 20th century, the metal casting process, welding techniques, the introduction of synthetic materials such as plastics, and new technology have radically changed the language of sculpture. Perhaps the most significant change - also observed in contemporary Alberta sculpture - is sculpture's forfeiture of volume and mass, its shift from a solid, monolithic to an open structure, a shift from subtractive (i.e. carved) to additive (i.e. welded or glued) techniques, from tactile to visual emphasis and from mimetic to conceptual accentuation. It is also evident that sculptural concepts today arise more from personal codes of expression, rather than from the dictates of manifestos.

Form-Space-Concept-Metaphor presents a wide panorama of philosophical, stylistic, and formalistic trends, with various approaches to material and techniques, that are very evident in contemporary Alberta sculpture.

The viewer of this exhibition will be able to examine each work from several points of view: the artist's control of space and form, the action of the artist's mind on three-dimensional materials, the questions and issues that are addressed, and the craftsmanship with tools and techniques which have formed the physical reality of each work. Here, under one roof, one can observe virtually the entire extent of sculpture making in Alberta in its many guises: from formalistic concerns, i.e. the achievement of unity in design and composition to metaphor making - the conception of personal statement and symbolic notation. Each work presented in this exhibition is a touchstone to a concept, an issue, a vision or a fantasy from the fertile mind of the artist made tangible through craftsmanship, and the movements of hands that have struggled with the physicality of material to give a final shape to the initial concept.

Form-Space-Concept-Metaphor highlights the artistic achievements of those Alberta sculptors who have explored fresh conceptual and formalistic parameters in their works, challenged traditional understanding and function of sculpture, and have elevated contemporary sculpture of this Province to national and international prominence.

Jacek Malec
Exhibition Curator

Works by Alberta Sculptors

List of Images (left to right, top to bottom):

1. RON KANASHIRO (Calgary, Alberta) - SENTINEL/SHRINE #7; 1986; mixed media, wood. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
2. BLAKE SENINI (Calgary, Alberta) - AND ANOTHER LIGHT; 2004; laminated wood and stain. Image courtesy of the Skew Gallery.
3. WALTER MAY (Calgary, Alberta) - MARS; 1987; wood (warped), wood veneer, metal, conduit. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
4. ALEXANDER CALDWELL (Calgary, Alberta) - Divided Square; 2004; aluminum, bronze, copper. Private collection. Image courtesy of the artist.
5. CATHERINE BURGESS (Edmonton, Alberta) - STILL LIFE, MAY 10, 1994; 1994; metal, steel, cast bronze. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
6. GRAHAM PAGE (Calgary, Alberta) - NYMPH'S FIELD; 1984; bronze. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.
7. BEN MCLEOD (Cochrane, Alberta) - UNTITLED #205; n.d.; metal, steel. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
8. ISLA BURNS (Thorsby, Alberta) - CELTIC QUEEN; 1998; metal, steel, cast iron. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
9. MERV KRIVOSHEIN (Rocky Mountain House, Alberta) - KNEELING FIGURE (Edition 1 of 2), 1998; bronze. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.
10. IAN COOK (Red Deer, Alberta) - TEMPLE STRUCTURE #3; 1990; bronze. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.
11. ROY LEADBEATER (Edmonton, Alberta) - UNTITLED; no date; bronze. Collection of the Glenbow Museum. Gift of Maureen M. Phillips, 2003. Image courtesy of the Glenbow Museum.
12. GORDON FERGUSON (Calgary, Alberta) - NANCY'S DIAMOND; 1990; bronze. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
13. KATIE OHE (Calgary, Alberta) - MRS. SQUAT LADY; 1986; cast aluminum. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
14. KATIE OHE (Calgary, Alberta) - MR. UP MAN; 1986; cast aluminum. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
15. ADRIAN COOKE (Lethbridge, Alberta) - UNION; 1971; cast cement/stone. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
16. BART HABERMILLER (Calgary, Alberta) - RED CHAIR; 1987; mixed media, miniature plastic chair, plastic eye glasses, plastic toy blocks, metal, wood. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
17. FAYE HEAVYSHEILD (Lethbridge, Alberta) - NOW I LAY ME DOWN; 1993; plaster. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
18. MARK DICEY (Calgary, Alberta) - UNTITLED; 1989; wood, metal, electric bulb. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
19. RON KOSTYNIUK (Calgary, Alberta) - URBAN LANDSCAPE / FAMILY; 1993; machined aluminum. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
20. PAUL LEATHERS (Red Deer, Alberta) - SECRET, ANYONE'S IS OPEN, IF WAITED FOR LONG ENOUGH; 2003; 24 kt. electroplated and patinated cast bronze, constructed and patinated bronze mounts, water-filled glass globes, corks, MDF, nitrile rubber. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
21. NICHOLAS ROUKES (Calgary, Alberta) - ARCHETONIC (DIPTYCH); 2000; acrylic on wood. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
22. JOAN KENDRICK (Calgary, Alberta) - THE POOL (fragment) ; 2003; wood, steel, aluminum, copper, steel screen, glass, pea gravel. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
23. HONSUN CHU (Calgary, Alberta) - KHIEN KWAN; 2005; ceramic. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
24. TIM WATKINS (Calgary/New York City) - BLOSSOM; 1971-72; metal, wire, mixed media. Collection of the Glenbow Museum. Gift of the Canada Council Art Bank, 2002. Image courtesy of the Glenbow Museum.
25. RAY ARNATT (Cochrane, Alberta; 1934 - 2004) - INVERTED STACK; 1982-83; gesso, wood. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the Estate of Ray Arnatt.
26. ERIC CAMERON (Calgary, Alberta) - ALICE'S-ROSE-IS-A-ROSE-IS-A-ROSE; 1996-2000; gesso, acrylic, rose. Collection of the Nickle Arts Museum. Image courtesy of the artist.
27. REINHARD SKORACKI (Calgary, Alberta) - IN THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN YOURSELF AND THE WORLD, BACK UP THE WORLD - F. Kafka (from "Aphorismen"); 2003; bronze. Collection of the artist. Image courtesy of the artist.
28. EVAN PENNY (Calgary/Toronto) - SCREEN STUDY; 1996; bronze. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.

International Influences in Contemporary Alberta Sculpture

The Modern Art Movement was instrumental in shaping contemporary Alberta sculpture. The visual arts institutions with their attractive exhibition programming, symposia and publications were all critical to the establishment of new trends and studio practices. A willingness to participate in the larger art scene has allowed Alberta sculptors the freedom to explore and develop. This has been supported through a series of invitational exhibitions and via the international research/travel and exhibition grant systems, provided by provincial and national institutions. Frequent visits to Alberta from such eminent American critics and curators as Clement Greenberg and Kenworth Moffett, in addition to European and American sculptors such as Anthony Caro, Magdalena Abakanowicz, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Michael Steiner, and Christo Javacheff have reinforced this development. They have kept Alberta sculptors in touch with the international scene, and their work in an international context.

Although the Alberta sculptors have been extremely successful in developing new formalistic foundations and aesthetic directions, and in articulating them in their own works, a trace of international influences has remained apparent in their creative output (notably during their formative years). The artists - and particularly those featured in the exhibition Form-Space-Concept-Metaphor - have not distanced themselves from these early 'fascinations'. These influences become a 'visual debate' with an international sculptor whom they have either revered, or with whom they were intellectually associated.

Katie Ohe, one of the first artists to make modern sculpture in Alberta, found the initial inspirations for her early sculpture in Henry Moore's biomorphic forms, carvings by Barbara Hepworth, works by Constantin Brancusi and Isamu Noguchi, particularly with their physical sense of sculpture, as well as in the psychological quality of Alberto Giacometti's figures. Calgary-based sculptor and ceramic artist Luke Lindoe provided additional inspiration for Ohe, especially through his strong forms of the 1950's.

Some sculptural realizations by Peter Hide - a 'spiritus movens' of the "Edmonton School of Formalism" - as well as those of Catherine Burgess, Isla Burns, Andrew Klimczak, or Ian Cook have been influenced directly or indirectly by Anthony Caro and David Smith. Alan Reynolds found inspiration for his sculptures in works by Michael Steiner as he had earlier in the sculptures by Russian Constructivists. Welded sculptures by Pablo Picasso and Julio Gonzales are also freely quoted in Reynolds' later works.

Recent relief sculptures by Nicholas Roukes and the aluminum-made wall mounted structures by Alexander Caldwell, both best described as a hybrid amalgamation of painting and sculpture, carry nods to the art of Kandinsky and Mondrian. The relief sculptures and structural/architectonic installations by Ron Kostyniuk reflect conceptual principles of Russian Constructivism and a Dutch De Stijl Movement with an additional nod to American Structuralists: Charles Biederman and Eli Bornstein.

Adrian Cooke and Blake Senini have found the inspiration for some of their works in the biomorphic forms of Henry Moore and Jean Arp.

Eric Cameron's Process Paintings indicate their debt to the American painter Ad Reinhardt. His on-going series of the Thick Paintings, in which a mundane household object is covered by a thousand layers of gesso and acrylic paint until transformed into a painterly echo of the original object, carry an indirect nod to Marcel Duchamp. In general terms, Duchamp's, Kurt Schwitters' and Neo-Dada's influence can be found in the works by Walter May, Gordon Ferguson, Bart Habermiller and Mark Dicey.

In addition, Brancusi's, Alexander Archipenko's and Jacques Lipchitz's formal concerns are reflected - to a certain degree - in the works by Graham Page, Ben McLeod and Merv Krivoshein.

The "black utopias" of Franz Kafka, Aldus Huxley and George Orwell provided literary inspiration for sculptures by Reinhard Skoracki, while a formal aspect of his sculptural realizations have been indirectly influenced by the works of Ernst Barlach, Jacob Epstein, Robert Graham, and John Davies.

Throughout the years of experimenting, Alberta sculptors have established their own visual vocabulary and carved their own distinctive niche in the history of contemporary Canadian sculpture. The more progressive of these sculptors - whose works are featured in this exhibition - have challenged the traditional understanding and function of sculpture. They contribute their voice to ongoing debates on aesthetic and formalistic directions in contemporary Alberta sculpture as well as its position on the international art scene.

Jacek Malec
Exhibition Curator

International Influences

List of Images (left to right, top to bottom):

1. ANTHONY CARO (British; London, U.K.; b. 1924) - RED DEER TABLE #1 , 1989; cast bronze, welded steel. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.
2. MICHAEL STEINER (American; New York City; b. 1945) - KIKAIS; 1979; bronze. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.
3. HENRY MOORE (British; 1898-1986) - TWO STUDIES FOR RECLINING NUDE FIGURES (edition 18/25); 1973; serigraph on paper. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.
4. JACQUES LIPCHITZ (Lithuanian/American; 1891-1973) - BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH (Study); 1958; ink and oil on paper. Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.
5. ALEXANDER ARCHIPENKO (Russian/American; 1887-1964 ) - FRAU (WOMAN); 1922; lithograph (edition of 25). Collection of the Red Deer College. Image courtesy of the Red Deer College.