Preview
SCAFFS
Neil Forrest
Runs until February 9
Truck Gallery
(815 First St. S.W.)
In a world driven to distraction by an assortment of gadgets that range from pocket-sized computers to cars that talk, Truck Gallery offers a much welcome reprieve.
Located in the basement of the historic Grain Exchange Building, literally dwarfed by its skyscraper neighbours, Truck is a pool of humanity in a world that sometimes seems out of control.
In keeping with this oasis of reflection is the gallery’s most recent exhibition, Scaffs, from ceramic artist extraordinaire Neil Forrest.
This Halifax-based artist and instructor is widely regarded by people in the world of ceramic art as being at the top of his game. And it’s easy to understand why. When you walk into the gallery space only two pieces are present, yet they fill the room like once-forgotten architectural edifices that seem to have been originally inspired by nature.
It’s not a coincidence that this work has such strong organic underpinnings when you understand that the first piece, also named Scaffs, was modelled in reference to a network of spruce tree roots located in the woods near Forrest’s studio.
By working with the Rhode Island School of Design, the artist has developed a new process using a hydraulic press to create the more than 1,000 porcelain pieces for this never-before-exhibited work.
"In my own studio, I assembled them manually into stable but non-geometric structures," says Forrest. "The 24-inch units were bisque-fired, glazed with a matt-crystalline glaze, and fired to porcelain temperatures in my electric kiln."
The resulting eight-part skeletal-like structure is joined together with magnets that, the artist says, "register the pieces during installation, and subsequently form the ‘joint,’ a very critical consideration in all things architectural.
"This I evolved from the writing of American Louis Kahn, arguably one of the greats of modernist architecture," says Forrest.
Using a suspension system, Scaffs floats in the gallery, helping to create an otherworldly effect.
"I think ornament must be as dynamic as the physics of architecture," says Forrest. "And unlike the historical theory of an integrated fabric, today ornament should be detached from its host."
Equally fascinating is the other work in this exhibition, entitled Wurzelwerk. In this case, rather than hanging from a superstructure attached to the roof, the piece seems to have oozed from some prehistoric goop out of the floor. Its individual ceramic pieces, joined together using industrial hose, spread tentacle-like across the gallery.
Both of Forrest’s pieces demonstrate a high degree of technical skill coupled with an intelligence that obviously guides their creation. Yet what Scaffs offers best is an opportunity to reflect on works of art that bring together elements inspired by architecture and organic structures in a setting that allows them, and the viewer, space to breathe. |
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