PAST - STRUCTURES

PAST - SCULPTURES

PAST - PAINTINGS

Exhibit 2021

WALKACROPOLIS, Architectural Biennale, 2020, European Cultural Center, Venice, Italy

TIME SPACE EXISTENCE will be held at Palazzo Mora at the Venice Biennale of Architecture 2021 held by EEC European Cultural Center. What if people were more important than cars? What if walking was the preferred form of transportation? Gotham Innovation Greenhouse team Jee Won Kim, Carl Skelton and Patrick Bermingham present WALKACROPOLIS. It takes pedestrians to a new level and takes thousands of pedestrians "off the street" to safer, quieter, more civic terrain; provides new views to see the city; facilitates the autonomous circulation of the vehicle below; provides reasons for walking; integrates new technologies for interaction and communication with pedestrians; provides new attractions and destinations; complements the existing urban landscape as an artistic element. Pedestrians can walk 1 km in 15 minutes. It allows people to meet and greet each other as fellow citizens, rather than obstructions in their path.

2021 ARCHITECTURE (ecc-italy.eu)

Exhibit 2018

WALKACROPOLIS, Smarter Cities New York 2018, New York, USA

“WALKACROPOLIS” was showcased at the 2nd annual Smart Cities New York (SCNY) Conference and Expo. “WALKACROPOLIS,” a phased project for the development of an elevated pedestrian walkway proposed along the full length of 42nd street from the Intrepid Museum to the United Nations. The walkway provides a continuous elevated "smart" pedestrian environment with a rich program mix of support for autonomous vehicle handling, signage and traffic management addressing the street level, and civic and cultural media experiences. Included in the design is a high content digital media opportunity, in a broad-spectrum use case including,  smart infrastructure (from lighting to security and traffic management), commercial architectural media (shop signage and digital out-of-home), and outdoor public cultural programming (historical, environmental, civic, arts).

Sculpture:

I believe that sculpture is an inherently public form of visual art and that it’s a sculptor’s job to catch and hold the attention of the public. I love to engage and inspire the public in this ancient discourse with dynamic and dramatic works which reveal more to the viewer with each new visit. I like to explore historical context and blend old ideas with new and innovative techniques. 

My approach to public sculpture starts with researching the subject, the historical background as well as the personality of the subject. Then I usually collect images that could be useful in creating a study or maquette. 

Typically, I advance two or more concepts at the same time and then select the strongest, most articulate forms and ideas to be incorporated into a central composition. Thereafter I will continue to make individual studies with an aim to both simplify and articulate the subject.

My process involves working directly in either clay or paper. These studies become like the “first words of poem” and help create a visual vocabulary of parts. From my model, I then begin making the first maquette and work to ensure it contains all the energy, mythology and balance I strive to achieve with each new work.

I consider myself a life-long student of sculpture and have made it a habit of constantly learning both old and new sculptural techniques. Forged steel is a material that is particularly lyrical and well suited to the constructivist tradition. I have also had the opportunity to work with stone again. Recently I have installed a power hammer and two forges in my studio to facilitate working in steel here in Canada.

I have expertise in wildlife sculpture, portraiture and figurative sculpture – and the ability to combine all three. I have been working with the Artcast Foundry (bronze) for over 40 years and in fact, I am their longest client. I am very experienced in working in most metals, stone, wood and terracotta.

Night Paintings

The night landscape is dramatic and devoid of the pastoral harmonies of traditional landscape painted during the day.  In the night, light and dark compete for prominence in a landscape reduced to mass and volume or more sculptural perception. The painting does not translate the night into a fully resolved and finished portrait of sylvan beauty but sets the stage and lighting of a theater where the nocturnal play will unfold. It is up to the viewer to let their eyes adjust and watch the drama unfold as the play comes to life. It is a bridge from the diurnal to the nocturnal world.

As we stand in the quiet of the night, our eyes adjust and the fuzziness of light, dark and grey begin to resolve more clearly into trees and bushes. We become a part of the night, a witness to the ongoing drama of the natural world that does not shut down and go to sleep at sundown.  Nature runs on a clock without hours, and the night pulsates with the same activity, drama, and beauty as the day. Most of us live in a parallel world alongside that of the natural one.  For us the diurnal, our day is divided into hours, minutes and seconds and punctuated by digital conversations.  Outside in the forest, in the clearing, no digital abbreviations can capture reality. Even the best cameras cannot fully capture the nocturnal scale and vitality of the night. Our eyes have cones to see color and rods to see light and dark. Stepping into the night we rely solely on the rods: during the first minute, our eyes become 10 times more sensitive to light and after 40 minutes, they are 25,000 times more sensitive. 

For me, stepping into the night landscape means departing the modern world.  My eyes struggle to see detail and depth. It’s not possible to see color, so I am reduced to a palette of white, grey and black.  Sensitivity to light and sensitivity to night become the same. I am transported back in time to my primeval self and wonder: did we travel by night to avoid the heat? Or did we hunt at night?  Clearly, humans are more adapted to see at night than we are led to believe in our modern world, which is awash with streetlights and artificial light creeping into every corner of our existence.  I hope the viewer will take the time to allow their eyes to adjust and fully experience the power of their night vision, to listen to the trees, and to use their nocturnal vision to see what the night reveals.