Nicholas Crombach

Chew Toys 1

2018

Nicholas Crombach (BFA, 2012) is an artist working in Kingston Ontario. Crombach has been awarded the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Award. His solo exhibition, Behind Elegantly Carved Wooden Doors, was presented at Art Mûr...

In his recent works sculptor Nicholas Crombach uses the markers of tradition to critique social rituals. Through the employment of the mythology and the rich visual culture of the hunt, Crombach assembles works which revel in contradiction. He has created a series of unexpected juxtapositions that examine the cultural significance and the complex issues percolating around hunting and sporting traditions in the 21st century. For this exhibition, Crombach riffs off the myth of Diana and Actaeon, which provides a poignant framework for his theme. In the original story, Actaeon, the hunter and grandson of King Cadmus, is in the forest with his dogs, when he spies Artemis (Diana) in her bath attended by her nymphs. Diana was the goddess of the hunt, but when the mortal Actaeon sees her, her nymphs try to cover her modesty. She splashes him with water, turning him from a mortal man into a stag, who flees into the forest only to be hunted down and killed by his own dogs. The hunter becomes the hunted. Crombach’s Fetch (2018) refers to the mythology of Diana and Actaeon as he transforms the lofty and classical story of metamorphoses into a game of fetch in the local park, constructed on a grand scale. In Fetch (2018), Crombach creates a hybrid between the art historical imagery from paintings of hounds hunting stags with the flashy colours and synthetic materials of modern day dog chew toys. The sculpture is displayed alongside a variety of chew toys that act as an index for the sculptures interpretation, some transformed into porcelain that has been marked with the aristocratic hunting motifs found on antique English pottery. Here, the assembly of works create a conversation on the blurred boundaries between: histories of domestication, the working relationships we have with animals, contemporary issues of hunting as “play”, tradition and survival. A second major new sculpture “End of the Chase” is a collapsed version of a Victorian period rocking horse housed in London’s V&A Museum Of Childhood. The sculpture responds to the 2014 hunting act that passed in Britain which in turn attempts to obliterate the tradition of hunting with hounds, most commonly associated with the fox hunt...

For Nicolas Bourriaud, the flea market is a place where “past production is recycled and switches direction” and where “an object is given a new idea.” On the stalls of the flea mar...

The Responsibility of Stories: Karine Giboulo’s Broken Circle Text by Sasha Gora Shoulders shrugged, a man stands among row after row of empty single beds. Like the beds, with frames that tilt and mattresses that hang a bit too far to the right, his posture is wobbly, a little unsure. It is hard to tell if he is looking ahead, or if his gaze is cast down. Part of Karine Giboulo’s Broken Circle, the empty beds are haunting as they reference the history of residential schools. The man’s stare suggests the weight of memory, the burden of stories. Giboulo employs sculpture as a mode of storytelling. The Montreal-based artist creates elaborate miniature worlds that are reminiscent of dioramas and ethnographic museum displays. Behind their precious scale and warm colours are harsh observations and critiques of the world’s economic and social ills. For her exhibition at Art Mûr, Giboulo delicately engages with Canada’s broken relationship with First Nations communities. Past projects have brought Giboulo to China (All you can eat, 2008), Haiti (Democracy Village, 2012), and India (City of Dreams, 2013). Back in Canada, Giboulo realized even though she grew up close to the Manawan community, Lanaudière, she had never set foot on a reserve. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released a summary in 2015 that describes the residential school system as cultural genocide. “Cultural” seems to soften the punch; however, cultural genocide is a component to genocide, not a different type. The commission’s head Justice Murray Sinclair states “ . . . this is not an aboriginal problem, it's a Canadian problem." Broken Circle imparts a similar view. This is an installation about Canada...

By Terence Sharpe Attacking the medium of sculpture from a position of almost anti-fine art clarity, Zeke Moores alters conceptions of how we relate to material and form. There is...

Brandon Vickerd is a Hamilton based artist and Professor of Sculpture at York University, where he also serves as Chair of the Department of Visual Arts and Art History. He received ...

Since graduating from the University of Colorado in 2010, Pichaske has risen to attention in the art world. She was an assistant to artist Cristina Cordova, and has been an Artist in...

Wearable sculpture created with wheat. Dimensions variable depending upon how the work is displayed.

Sea shells and mixed media, wearable sculpture. Sculpture includes headpiece, skirt and shoes. The pair of shoes can be purchased separately. Dimensions variable depending upon how t...

This sculpture titled "Blue Kettle" is an original artwork by Ulla-Stina Wikander made of needlepoint embroidery and vintage object. This piece measures approximately approx. 8.5"h ...

"After Work Installation" is an original needlepoint embroidery and vintage object artwork measuring approx. 45"h x 38"w x 25"d made by Ulla-Stina Wikander....

This free-standing sculpture titled "An Exact Record Of How It Happened" is an original artwork by Jedediah Morfit made of plaster, paint, wax, thermoplastic, epoxy, wood, rope. This piece measures 33.25"h x 10"w x 14"d. Please note: Artwork will be on display at SHOWFIELDS NY (11 Bond St, New York, NY 10012) through the end of November. BIO Jedediah Morfit received his MFA in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005, where he was awarded the Sylvia Leslie Herman Young Scholarship and the Award Of Excellence. He was a Fellow at the Center For Emerging Visual Artists from 2007-2009, and received a New Jersey Council On the Arts Fellowship for sculpture in 2009. He received the Louise Kahn Award for Sculpture from the Woodmere Art Museum in 2006, and was awarded the Dexter Jones Award for Bas Relief from the National Sculpture Society in 2011 and 2012. In 2013, he was commissioned to create a series of new work for Artlantic:Wonder, which was named one of the 50 best...