Anthropocene
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Anthropocene refers to the current geological age in which human behaviors constitute a geological force. Our collective capacity to change the environment renders nature a human construct; the natural parameters required for the existence of life are today subject to human activity. Anthropocene embodies the idea of a man-made nature. Sculpted by using high-pressured water, natural-like formations are eroded out of foam. These formations are then cast in fiberglass, resulting in an ice-like mass that echoes the Arctic seen in The Sea of Ice (1824), Caspar David Friedrich’s iconic landscape painting. Friedrich’s work appeared at a time when Arctic exploration was still in its infancy. Today, as the North Pole melts at an alarmingly fast rate, the Arctic draws human attention not as an unexplored frontier, but as an unexploited resource, with various nations, Canada included, vying to stake a claim. As Slavoj Žižek notes in Living in the End Times, we are encouraged to focus on the potential wealth of an ice-free Arctic so that we can remain blind to the crisis of global warming.
Anthropocene, 2012 Conceived for an exhibition at the Alberta Gallery of Art Special thanks to Teo McGillicuddy for his role in helping me to realize the work
Installation view at the Art Gallery of Calgary
Installation view at the Museum of Contemporary Art |
Overflow
An elaborate relief sculpture that celebrates Edmonton’s icy winter climate. It is comprised of layers of frosted polycarbonate cut into hundreds of icicle-like outcroppings that span the length of a portion of the eaves at Callingwood Recreational Centre. The sculpture
Overflow
An elaborate relief sculpture that celebrates Edmonton’s icy winter climate. It is comprised of layers of frosted polycarbonate cut into hundreds of icicle-like outcroppings that span the length of a portion of the eaves at Callingwood Recreational Centre. The sculpture
400,000 Volt Coyote
“Untitled (400,000 Volt Coyote)” uses the language of educational institutions, like the Natural History Museum, to create an improbable diorama. It illustrates the ancient creation story of the Nez Perce tribe of northwestern America through the use of a taxidermy
400,000 Volt Coyote
“Untitled (400,000 Volt Coyote)” uses the language of educational institutions, like the Natural History Museum, to create an improbable diorama. It illustrates the ancient creation story of the Nez Perce tribe of northwestern America through the use of a taxidermy
Choral Riser III
One dips both hands into two distinct water troughs, which causes a subtle electric current to pass through the body, speeding up one’s heart rate by an eighth of a beat. A faint suspended choral crescendo of sound rises as
Choral Riser III
One dips both hands into two distinct water troughs, which causes a subtle electric current to pass through the body, speeding up one’s heart rate by an eighth of a beat. A faint suspended choral crescendo of sound rises as
Twenty-Four
You enter a space and are confronted by a gauntlet of twenty-four male figures in the pose of Richard Serra at one-third to human scale, hypnotically aligned and meticulously placed with laser precision–installed by projecting a laser beam onto the
Twenty-Four
You enter a space and are confronted by a gauntlet of twenty-four male figures in the pose of Richard Serra at one-third to human scale, hypnotically aligned and meticulously placed with laser precision–installed by projecting a laser beam onto the
Sunset Crescendo
A machine that emits a dissonant cinematic crescendo sound while the sun is setting. It is a black burned out elliptical form reminiscent of lungs, the inside of our ears, or a setting sun reflected on a dark sea flipped
Sunset Crescendo
A machine that emits a dissonant cinematic crescendo sound while the sun is setting. It is a black burned out elliptical form reminiscent of lungs, the inside of our ears, or a setting sun reflected on a dark sea flipped
Ventriloquial Carpenter’s Oval
A giant parabolic sound reflector. If you talk into it, it will throw your voice ten feet behind you. “Ventriloquial Carpenter’s Oval”, 2006 bee’s wax, expanding foam and steel 6’ x 4’ x 2’
Ventriloquial Carpenter’s Oval
A giant parabolic sound reflector. If you talk into it, it will throw your voice ten feet behind you. “Ventriloquial Carpenter’s Oval”, 2006 bee’s wax, expanding foam and steel 6’ x 4’ x 2’
Choral Riser II
As the two discrete pieces of metal are touch with both hands, a subtle electric current passes through our body, speeding up our heart rate by an eighth of a beat. A faint suspended choral crescendo of sound rises from
Choral Riser II
As the two discrete pieces of metal are touch with both hands, a subtle electric current passes through our body, speeding up our heart rate by an eighth of a beat. A faint suspended choral crescendo of sound rises from
Shy Light
On a wall in an empty gallery space, a torso-sized pink spot of light can be seen. While drawing closer for further inspection to see if an object is there, we walk into the beam’s path. After a small pause,
Shy Light
On a wall in an empty gallery space, a torso-sized pink spot of light can be seen. While drawing closer for further inspection to see if an object is there, we walk into the beam’s path. After a small pause,
Amalgam Mask
A disembodied head modelled with George W. Bush Jr.’s ears and hair, Donald Rumsfeld’s eyes and mouth, and the artist’s nose and skull. The work is hollow-cast in silicone, given a bronze patina and then allowed to collapse from its
Amalgam Mask
A disembodied head modelled with George W. Bush Jr.’s ears and hair, Donald Rumsfeld’s eyes and mouth, and the artist’s nose and skull. The work is hollow-cast in silicone, given a bronze patina and then allowed to collapse from its
Raising the Dead
Although the participant’s vision is completely impaired when wearing this mechanism, they can navigate their way around a space by using sonar, like a bat. The participant hears a suspenseful, yet lulling, cinematic chorus of violins that intensifies in volume
Raising the Dead
Although the participant’s vision is completely impaired when wearing this mechanism, they can navigate their way around a space by using sonar, like a bat. The participant hears a suspenseful, yet lulling, cinematic chorus of violins that intensifies in volume