Opening reception: Saturday, October 14, 2-4 pm.
Exhibition dates: October 13 – November 18, 2017.
Excerpt from an essay on Clint Neufeld’s work by Jen Budney, an independent writer and curator, from the catalogue for the exhibition “Flatlanders” (Mendel Art Gallery, 2008):
Clint Neufeld’s sculptures involve an intricate play between contradictory forms, materials, and purposes. For the last few years, since graduating with an MFA from Concordia University in Montreal, Neufeld has been working with the most “Saskatchewan” of forms: engines, excavating buckets, and other mechanical devices that are employed with great frequency throughout the province. Yet, unlike the real objects, Neufeld’s sculptures are not made with industrial materials. Rather, they are lovingly handcrafted from such substances as porcelain and wax.
“Although I acknowledge one could read a comment on gender in my work, that’s not my primary intention,” Neufeld said. “I’m simply interested in taking familiar objects and transforming them just a bit, so that we can look at them from a different point of view.” Influenced initially by sculptors such as the minimalist Donald Judd, who simplified his forms in order to make people pay close attention, Neufeld has also been inspired by installation artists like Ann Hamilton, whose works are much more theatrical and literary. There is an element in his work that hearkens to a different time, a time that was both simpler and perhaps a bit more genteel.
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