Sculpture, Assemblage, Bricollage

I’m a constructivist at heart, building & assembling found materials into new narratives using the idea of signs & perceptions to create representational images. From the moment I began making art I have seen the semiotic quality of objects and the narratives they can create through assemblage.

Faggot & Other LGBTQ2+ Stories, Satellite Project Space, July 21-31, 2021

“Faggot.” It’s an insidious, hate filled word meant to degrade. It’s a utilitarian object of sticks and rope with multiple uses. It is the material and narrative that forms the foundation of this exhibition and reflects both the public and private hurt many in the LGBTQ2+ community experience too often. It also reflects my artistry as a Bricoleur and Social Justice Activist with these themes drawn from my own public and private life. In addressing ‘Faggot’ as a theme, I am addressing the unequal power imbalance between those heaving and those receiving its signifying message – suggesting an object to be burned and destroyed – in spite of recent social changes including gay marriage and human rights recognition.

As a self-proclaimed London Regionalist, in this exhibition I am also tying myself to that language and history. In this way this exhibit is as much about history as it is about reclaiming language, including my history as a gay man and as an artist, and my place and role in each. What I have come to understand of this journey, my journey, is captured in the words of Casey Legler (The Guardian, 15 July 2017) who writes:

“’Faggot’ are beautiful, magical, brave humans who have overcome the loss of an entire generation of their elders to HIV and AIDS and who have, despite this, approached life with resilience, grace, and class, despite opposition, beratement, beatings, oppression, and exclusion from their families, their kin, their jobs, and their homes. They are some of the most beautiful human beings I know, who have overcome huge adversity and grief, with their hearts intact and smiles in their eyes. And so being called a faggot is, in fact, a compliment of the highest order.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art Skate Canada, The Arts Project, March 11 – 17, 2013

This skate was produces during Skate Canada 2013 as a fund raising effort for The Arts Project, London, Ontario. During the event it was used extensively for marketing and promotion of the event, and received international media attention.

Generating Voices 2

McIntosh Gallery, Western University, June 16-July 31, 1994
This was my first professional exhibition.

 

 

 

Community Living London

A Chair Affair
These works were donated and sold as a fundraising effort for Community Living London.

Sculptures – Old & New