{"id":348,"date":"2020-02-07T19:08:50","date_gmt":"2020-02-07T18:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.stephenschofield.ca\/?page_id=348"},"modified":"2026-06-05T06:29:45","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T10:29:45","slug":"stumble","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blog.stephenschofield.ca\/en\/expositions\/expositions\/stumble\/","title":{"rendered":"DIBUTADE, STUMBLE & SLYBOOT’S PROMISE | 2008-2009"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dibutade I<\/em>, 2008, V\u00eatements r\u00e9cup\u00e9r\u00e9s, sucre, fil d\u2019acier, 282 X 239 X 86 cm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dibutade II<\/em>, 2008, Tissu, sucre, fil d\u2019acier, 290 X 234 X\u00a0386 cm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dibutade\u00a0III<\/em>, 2009, Nouveau tissu, sucre,\u00a0suspendu du m\u00fbr par un c\u00e2ble m\u00e9tallique, 168 x 242 x 148 cm\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ces pi\u00e8ces sont toutes de peau et d\u2019os et, au d\u00e9but du moins, de beaucoup d\u2019air chaud. Les mat\u00e9riaux sont souples et liquides : du tissu tremp\u00e9 dans de l\u2019eau sucr\u00e9e. Fines, l\u00e9g\u00e8res et de consistance d\u00e9licate, ces sculptures forment un groupe de petits malins. Bien que certains d\u2019entre eux soient plut\u00f4t bien baraqu\u00e9s, ils ne sont finalement qu\u2019enveloppe et illusion. Malgr\u00e9 leur apparence, ils ne sont pas rembourr\u00e9s, mais rigides, compacts et toniques, contrairement aux structures gonflables molles et embryonnaires qu\u2019on peut voir dans la rue. Il doit donc y avoir quelque chose pour faire tenir ces pi\u00e8ces, les faire flotter et bondir du mur, du plancher et du plafond comme elles le font. La force et la promesse de ces pi\u00e8ces d\u00e9pendent des interactions entre le poids du tissu, la coupe des mod\u00e8les, le choix du point de couture, la concentration de la solution \u00e0 base de sucre et d\u2019eau, et la circulation de l\u2019air. Lorsque le tout est bien \u00e9quilibr\u00e9, le sucre renforce les coutures de sorte qu\u2019elles puissent agir comme une ossature, et il cimente les fibres pour que le tissu puisse tenir les positions impos\u00e9es aux personnages qui, une fois install\u00e9s, sont remarquablement r\u00e9sistants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expositions\u00a0: Stumble, <\/em>exposition solo, Galerie Joyce Yahouda, Montr\u00e9al, 2009; Stumble <\/em>dans\u00a0Person Place Thing<\/em>, exposition de group, Visual Arts Gallery, New Jersy City Museum; Textile Museum of Canada, Toronto, 2010; Embodying<\/em>:\u00a0 Atlanta Contemporary Art Center, Atlanta, Georgia. Commissaire: Stuart Horodner 2011; Slyboots Promise<\/em>, Cue Art Foundation, New York, NY 2012; Galerie d\u2019art d\u2019Outremont, Outremont, 2013; Slyboots<\/em>, exposition pour Contextile, Guimar\u00e3es, Portugal 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Stumble<\/em>, 2009 solo exhibition, view Joyce Yahouda Gallery, <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dibutade 2<\/em>, 2008 recycled fabric, sugar, steel, PVC pipe 2.82 m x 2.39 m x 86 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dibutade 2<\/em>, 2008 recycled fabric, sugar, steel, PVC pipe 2.82 m x 2.39 m x 86 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Dibutade 3<\/em>, 2009, recycled fabric, sugar, steel, PVC pipe 1.67 x 2.41 x 1.47 m <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Dibutade 1<\/em>, 2008, recycled fabric, sugar, steel, PVC pipe, 2.94 m x 2.34 m x 86.4 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photos \u00a9 Guy L’Heureux.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Schofield’s work is characterized by an intense engagement with materiality. Each work, ranging from monumental inflatable sculptures, to performances, drawings and videos, is carefully thought out and is distinguished by a play of dualities: strength and weakness; rigidity and flexibility; kinetics and statics, in order to negotiate a constant tension between presence and weight. These sculptures designed through a pattern and sometimes three times the scale of the human body, are made up of a myriad of pieces of textiles. Soaked in a solution of sugar, water and glue that fixes the material, they are then filled and formed by blowing air. The resulting form is a rigid and immobile membrane, bulky yet strong and rigid, unlike the soft and embryonic appearance of traditional inflatable structures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jessica Gildea, text for the exhibit Slyboot\u2019s Promise<\/em>, from September 8 to October 13 2012, Cue Art Foundation, New York, N.Y.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Pattern<\/em>, 2008 (pattern of the right side of Dibutade<\/em> 1) graphite and ink on pattern paper, variable dimensions <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Slyboot’s Promise<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

These pieces are all skin and bones and, at least at the beginning, a lot of hot air. The materials are flexible and liquid: cloth soaked in sugar water. Thin, light and of little substance, these sculptures are a gang of sly boots.  Although some of them are really big guys, they are all in the end just surface and illusion. That said, they are stiff, not stuffed; tight and tonic not soft or embryonic like street inflatables, so something must be at work to make these pieces stand, float and leap off the wall, floor, and ceiling as they do. The strength and promise of these pieces depend on the interactions of the weight of the cloth, the cut of the patterns, the choice of seam, the concentration of the sugar water solution and the circulation of air. With the right balance, the sugar reinforces the seams so they can act as bones and binds the fibres so the cloth can hold the gestures of the figures. In fact, once the pieces are set, they are remarkable resistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I started this work during a residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Programme in New York in 2008, I’ve come to realise that making these slyboots is a complex and contradictory matter. Complex, because most of the figures are a patchwork of over one hundred and seventy separate pieces of cloth and contradictory, because I consider each piece of cloth as both clothing and body, the assembly of pieces as sculpture and effigy and when I step back, I see the group of works as both classical nudes and superheroes. Perhaps they are so complex and contradictory because I first created the patterns by drawing directly on my companion’s body –<\/em> Michel Daigneault –<\/em> the different muscle groups to transfer them unto pattern paper only to adjust and exploit the potential and promise of each variable: cloth, cut, seam, mix and air in order to make the cloth be true.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Schofield<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prototype of the head of Dibutade<\/em>, 2009, photographic gel filtres <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Exhibitions<\/p>\n\n\n\n