Curator: David Diviney
Navigating various strains of sculpture practice, from the found object – the humble and the everyday – to traditional processes and techniques, the artists in Material World draw upon consumer culture – “things” from the world around us and our relationship with them – as a driving force behind their material choices, formal concerns, and the imagery they put forth.
Primarily driven by the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia’s Permanent Collection, Material World features some of the newest additions to the Gallery’s area of sculpture as well as many pieces that have never been seen before.
This includes works by artists Thierry Delva (NS), Gerald Ferguson (NS), Phil Grauer, Irene Neal, Robin Peck (NB), Elspeth Pratt, Lauren Schaffer, Ron Terada and past Sobey Art Award winners Michel de Broin and Brian Jungen. These works and others from the collection are complimented by examples from several of the country’s leading contemporary artists including Toronto artist and last year’s Grange Prize winner Kristan Horton and Vancouver based duo Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky.
Through divergent strategies of sculptural production that cross the expanded definition of the field, the artists in Material World celebrate the “things” that shape our surroundings as well as the human impulse to re-imagine them. The fundamental pleasures of making, undoing and recreating are at the crux of this unique exhibition as we are – after all – “living in a material world”.…
