play - replay
I believe that play and creativity have a fundamental relationship. Playing around – with objects, ideas, texts and of course, toys are the threads that I work with in the studio – trying things out and seeing the results. The subsequent challenge involves assessing whether to continue, to modify or to move on. While bronze casting normally speaks to permanence and the epic, the scale of these works creates an intimacy and anti-monumentalism which serves my purposes.
Using toys as a foundation material is a natural fit that I have gravitated toward as a means of speaking to my concerns. Toys have always fascinated me - how they function and how their meanings can be ‘read’. Starting with a collectivity of LEGO, plastic army men, Playmobile figures, pirates, and skateboarders I have cast a population of bronze castings. Each figure started in large part with the question, “what if I…”. Each result would subsequently inform the next effort. play – replay seeks to transform materials and expectations resulting from this play in the studio.
Exhibited:
Earl Selkirk Gallery Toronto, ON
February 25 - April 7, 2013
