A BOY'S OWN STORY | SWING PAST PROGRESSIVE | 2002-04

2004 | Optica Contemporary Art Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

“I’m interested in an imaginary world of youth which is somewhere between toys and tools. More specifically, I’m interested in the misdirected projection of sexual want onto the things that occupied the banal suburban home of my own story. The sculptures of this exhibition are an odd grouping of objects that I remember as being marvellous; some were mechanical, some crystalline, some furry and others smooth yet all are about self-absorption. Closing down the world around you, intensifying every gesture gives a boy a terrible and ridiculous power. It seems to me that self-absorption is marked by sudden shifts in scale, irregular and convoluted forms, twisted spaces and artificial colour, which is why I wanted to make these pieces both repulsive and beautiful.” Stephen Schofield

Text of the exhibition communiqué, A Boy’s own Story, Optica, Centre of Contemporary Art, March 5 – April 10 2004

Expositions : A Boy’s Own Story, Optica, Montréal, 2004; At Play, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, 2004, (cat. Ian McKinnon); De Ferron à BGL; Art contemporain du Québec, Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec; Idées de paysage/ Paysage d’idées, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Mtl. 2008

*Silly Ensemble* 2003, two figures, ceramic and cotton, base : steel and cement. 122 X 61 X 213 cm, Collection of the Musée national des Beaux-arts du Québec

*Tail too*, 2003, ceramic and cotton, 32 x 35 x 20 cm,
Collection of the Musée national des Beaux-arts du Québec

*Anonima Fluffy*, 2003 céramique, 22 x 48 x 30 cm,
Collection du Musée national des Beaux-arts du Québec

*Anonima Shaved, three times*, 2003, ceramic, base : wood and steel

Photo © Paul Litherand.

2002 | Swing Past Progressive

Ces deux sculptures reprennent les moments chargés de mon adolescence que j’ai vécu dans une banale maison de banlieue. D’objets ordinaires comme une balançoire ou mes caleçons thermiques peuvent devenir, avec de l’imagination et de la manipulation, merveilleux et étranges. En prenant du recul par rapport au monde qui l’entoure, ce garçon a acquiert un pouvoir terrible et ridicule pour rendre ces œuvres à la fois repoussantes et belles.

Swing Past Progressive, 2002 | hydrocal, pigments and steel, 167,3 x 500,6 x 135 cm | Collection of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal