>>PREVIEW
SUMMER SCULPTURE AT THE TRIANGLE
Runs until August 24
Eric Cameron, Honsun Chu, Lylian Klimek, Ron Kostyniuk, Katie Ohe and Reinhard Skoracki
Triangle Gallery of Visual Arts
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Calgary Contemporary Arts Society (CCAS), the Triangle Gallery is exhibiting sculptural works by six outstanding Calgarian artists, four of which are members of the Artists’ Circle. This organization has played a significant role in the formation of the CCAS and of the Triangle Gallery since 1988. The four featured members – Katie Ohe, Eric Cameron, Ron Kostyniuk and Reinhard Skoracki – are joined by veteran artists Lylian Klimek and Honsun Chu.
Just as the Triangle Gallery’s space is divided in three sections, the sculptural artworks are separated into three sub-groups that are seemingly unified by some esthetic or symbolic characteristics. The first section includes works by Kostyniuk, Chu, Skoracki and Klimek that have been grouped together to accentuate their plasticity with their bright and shiny primary colour scheme and industrial look. In the second section, the visitor will find works by Kostyniuk, Chu, Ohe and Cameron. All of the works in this space seem to have been inspired by nature, as most of the mediums are metal, stone and marble, giving the whole room a muted colour palette. In the upstairs gallery, works by Skoracki, Cameron, Kostyniuk and Klimek occupy the space. With its low ceiling, this area lends a sense of intimacy to the artworks that are smaller in scope, possessing a surrealistic quality.
As in all group exhibitions, there is something for everyone to enjoy. Although each participating artist deserves proper recognition for their impressive body of work, my personal favourites in the show were by Cameron, Skoracki and Klimek. I have always admired Cameron’s conceptual series of Thick Paintings that he started in 1979 and continues to create. He begins a Thick Painting by selecting a mundane household object (the four objects present at the Triangle show are a rose, a shoe, a chestnut and a spring) that will serve as the core of his work. He then applies successive layers of white and grey gesso paint to the object for several years. This anamorphic process slowly erases the characteristics of the original sealed object and gives it a new meaning. Cameron’s Thick Paintings are as timeless and relevant today as they were more than 20 years ago.
Although Klimek emerged as an artist approximately at the same time as Cameron, she has a different approach to her creative process that relies heavily on installation art to address sociological and environmental issues such as consumerism and biotechnology. Her work is playful, utilizing bright colours and unexpected materials to create, in her most recent body of work, representations of fantastical and artificial plant and life forms. Included in the exhibition is Beeline, a work that is part of her latest series. It can be visually described as three black beehive-like forms standing erect on the floor as straight rows of multicoloured beads suggestive of DNA strands protrude from the top of the hives and reach up to the ceiling.
Skoracki is the only figurative sculptor showcased in the exhibition. His works in bronze, of minute scale, are packed with symbolic and metaphoric imagery commenting on human life and relationships. They have been aptly described by the author Nicholas Roukes as "pocket-size dramas." The works from his latest series called Sit-uations represent exactly that: satirical situations between individuals arising around or on chairs. They are amusing to look at and they make the visitor ponder the odd situation presented before them. Skoracki describes his work in the following manner: "When I try to reflect ‘la condition humaine’ through my art, I act like a bird that senses the dawn and carefully starts singing while it is still dark."
The sculpture show at the Triangle Gallery is the perfect occasion to brush up on your knowledge of important Canadian artists who contributed in the dissemination of the Calgary art scene at the provincial, national and international level. We should feel immense pride in calling these artists Calgarians. |
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