Restoring artworks—in this case, sculpture—is painstaking and complex work. Some are exterior installations, set up in public space; others are in the collections of museums, corporations or individuals, while others are part of the imposing corpus of our religious heritage. Whether we are dealing with
The activities of conservation professionals are traditionally based on preserving the original materials of a cultural property.1 The principle of this activity closely allies the notion of an object’s original material integrity with that of its authenticity; this is what the articles in the Dictionnaire encyclopédique
Daniel Buren’s Les deux plateaux is a work that is squarely at the core of the controversies of its era. Contested at the time it was installed in 1985, it continued to be so in 2007 when the artist addressed the question of its maintenance
The Ville de Montréal owns a significant collection of public artworks that require constant attention to ensure their preservation. To which municipal entity is this task entrusted? What is the city’s policy in this regard? Snejanka Popova: The management of restoring and maintaining the municipal
Considered one of the most illustrious figures of 18th century Quebec sculpture, Pierre-Noël Levasseur (1690-1770) was born in Quebec City and was raised among a dynasty of sculptors. Without a doubt the greatest ornamentalist and sculptor in New France, he created, among others, the decor
Public art holds a broad, pervasive and rich meaning. However, its usage in the media sphere or through its institutional designations restricts its reach, relating it primarily to works that complete an architectural (interior or exterior), urban or landscaped structure accessible to the public. The
Iain Baxter, N.E. Thing Co. Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto Jed Lind, Gold, Silver and Lead Toronto Sculpture Garden The art world is not immune from criticism, when it comes to artistic practise and the effects art production has on the environment. Sometimes making a statement actually damages the environment. N.E.
Zeke Moores: Constructs Diaz Contemporary, Toronto, Ontario May 31 — July 7, 2012 The Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) University in Halifax has been a bit of a hotbed of sculptural activity, orbiting the aesthetic of 1:1 scale. Thierry Delva (now longsince moved on from
Undoubtedly philosophers are in the right when they tell us that nothing is great or little otherwise than by comparison.1 – Jonathan Swift, Gulliver’s Travels Endlessly amassed, the dwarves, midgets, small things, miniatures and other diminutives have yet to reach the level of his shins,
Guy Laramée, Guan Yin Galerie d'Art d'Outremont May 3—27, 2012 The world is large, but in us it is deep as the sea. –Rainer Maria Rilke Art sometimes may be created through excessiveness. But how do we measure the “excessive”? How does the work make us see the refusal
An Era of the Boundless? Defining the boundless is not an easy task—actually, it is almost as dizzying to think about it as it is to experience it. One can sometimes grasp it as the infinite (literally without bounds) sometimes as excess (implying the overstepping of
Since it was uploaded last summer Jonathan Gales’ short film Megalomania 1 has aroused fascination with its protagonists, a city and its architecture portrayed as an incommensurable and immobile construction site. A truly post-humanist product, Megalomania’s unfurling of Piranesian scenes allows one to grasp the failure