Artist’s Statement from the exhibition:
“The sculptures in this exhibition are, my wife maintains, all self portraits. I thought I was trying to say something about the condition of modern man: metaphorically bound, gagged and otherwise restrained from full, articulate communication with his fellows.
But no, says she, who am I to presume to speak for all, when I can’t even mumble for myself. And…I suppose she’s right. So be kind, please, and forgiving then, gentle viewer, as you peruse my small attempts to express myself.”
After experimenting with the abstract for my early sculpture exhibitions, I wanted to try something a little more concrete – the human figure, and so in 1987, I arranged an exhibition at Gallery on Whyte in Edmonton.
I chose the theme of ‘communication’ – or the lack of it. Many of us feel somewhat alienated – even now, despite, or perhaps because of a web-linked world, our innermost feelings are often camouflaged.
The human figure is loaded with reflexive language – body language. A simple gesture – a raised eyebrow, the tilt of a head, twist of a torso – can speak to us more directly than words. The sculptural figure can often portray that language.
I began preparing for the show by throwing on the wheel small porcelain closed forms and altering them into little expressive figures, which are shown here first.
penguin man, 1987, thrown, altered porcelain, 24 cm h, stain, transparent glaze, ∆04. (❋)
iceman, 1987, thrown porcelain, 24 cm h, slip applied thickly, clear glaze, ∆04.
blind vision, 1987, thrown, altered porcelain, 24 cm h, thin slabs of slip added, clear glaze, ∆04. (❋)
victim, 1987, thrown, altered porcelain, 24 cm h, thin strips of clay applied, clear glaze, ∆04. (❋)
gold chain, 1987, thrown, altered porcelain, 26 cm h, stain, glaze, ∆04.
gold chain, 1987. The figure was thrown, altered, then clay was added for the costume, etc.
adolescence, 1987, thrown, altered porcelain, 26 cm h, clear glaze, ∆04.
adolescence, right, 1987. The age when the body, the emotions, everything is changing!
old age, 1987, throw,n altered porcelain 29 cm h, transparent glaze, ∆04. The age of unwanted change. (private collection)
dreamer, 1987, thrown porcelain 29 cm h, clear glaze, ∆04.
traveller, 1987, thrown, altered porcelain, 36 cm h, thin slabs added, clear glaze, ∆04.
one eye,1987, throw, altered porcelain 29 cm h, clear glaze, ∆04.
pilgrim,1987, thrown, altered porcelain, thin slabs of clay added, 29 cm h, glazed, ∆04.
prickly lady, 1987, thrown, altered porcelain, 35 cm h, hand-formed spikes incerted, clear glaze, ∆04. (❋)
prickly lady, 1987. It took the patience of Job to make roll out the spikes, make a hole in the sculpture’s surface and insert the spike, hoping it would stay in place. (❋)
For the larger pieces, I built figures, mostly life-sized, with terracotta or a light coloured stoneware, using a ‘slab-coil’ method I had developed. Long slabs of clay, not coils, made the construction much quicker. Most of the figures were unglazed, with selective burnishing and textures emphasized with iron oxide rub.
tied, 1987, slab-coiled clay, clay rope, 57 cm high, white glaze, ∆04.
undercurrents, 1986, hand-built earthenware, 55 cm h, thin glaze, ∆02. (❋)
undercurrents, 1986, earthenware, 55 cm h, textured clay slab applied inside, thin glaze, ∆02. (❋)
bustin’ out, 1987, stoneware, 65 cm h, porcelain inserts, ∆04.
bandaged man, 1987, stoneware, 92 cm h, slip-soaked cheesecloth wrapping, ∆04.
bandaged man, 1987, stoneware 92 cm h, slip-soaked cheesecloth, ∆04.
bound, 1987, stoneware, 90 cm h, torso smoothed surface, ∆ 04.
bound, 1987, stoneware, 90 cm h, the clay ‘leather’ straps were burnished, coloured with iron oxide, ∆ 04.
painted lady, 1987, stoneware 91 cm h, coloured slips, thin glaze, ∆ 04.
mime, 1987, stoneware, 98 cm h, applied slip, thin glaze, ∆ 04.
mime, 1987. The gesture is more of a defensive stance than a form of mime.
ecstasy, 1987, terracotta, 87 cm h, applied slip, burnished, unglazed, ∆04.
before fall 1987, stoneware, applied slip, 105 cm h, thin glaze, ∆ 04.
before the fall, 1987. For some reason my dear wife tells me this is an accurate self portrait.
