Cal Lane

Mortar Horses

2011

The first decades of the 21st century shaped the period of reconfiguration of the "world order", according to Pedro Pablo Gómez1, into three options: "rewesternalization, dewesternal...

Brandon Vickerd’s current show at Art Mûr brings together three sculptural pieces that undress and re-situate the Chopper: that iconic assertion of individuality, masculinity, and speed, pushed to new levels through mechanical re-imagining. Biker culture itself is something of a hidden universe for the uninitiated, and yet it’s omnipresent in the badass archetypes that have never really left the Hollywood screen. The mechanic’s shop now shares that space, too, with TV shows like American Chopper reinforcing what Vickerd sees as a current reverence for hyper craftsmanship, in a society that is quickly losing the need or will to continue to create by hand. The Chopper series has come out of years of training in custom bike shops, where Vickerd learned the new materials and processes from masters of the craft. The style is clearly automotive; its exoskeletal form mimics the exposed mechanics of motorcycles. There is that shared technique, a precise handling of steel, fibreglass, and car paint. But otherwise they are abstracted out of mechanical use or recognition. Chopper 1 captures the exaggerated length of its namesake. The piercing length and height of the piece stretches its physical reach, to the corners of the room. The work is supported by a stylized kickstand, re-enforcing its top-down direction. Chopper 2 is tight and muscular—engine-like—buzzing with pent-up energy, and the promise of propulsion. Chopper 3, less contained, seems ready to fly to pieces. As art objects, they are striking. As machines, they are decommissioned. These works’ promise of speed, agility, and rebellion are locked away as wayward desires. But brought together in this space, they seem poised and ready to use their audience as grounders to come alive. The un-crowded installation allows the necessary space for visitors to negotiate their relationship to the objects and the physical surroundings. This acknowledgement of relationship—between person, architecture, and objects— in Chopper’s sparse installation has a 60’s minimalist sensitivity. At the same time the sculptures themselves have the aftertaste of an old future. In the gleaming (and maybe just a bit rusty) hardness of these chrome bodies is the faint reflection of the failed project of futurists and utopian dreamers. Chopper brings visitors into a more intimate proximity with their environment—both physical and cultural. As with Dead Astronaut...

Brandon Vickerd’s current show at Art Mûr brings together three sculptural pieces that undress and re-situate the Chopper: that iconic assertion of individuality, masculinity, and sp...

What would a perfect future look like and how would it be represented for future generations to examine and question? What would we choose to preserve from high art and mainstream culture? How will our successes be depicted and will we account for our failures? Perhaps our contemporary mythologies will replace the ancient Greek and Roman gods and goddesses of yore with superheroes, extra-terrestrials and science fiction characters devastated by technological advancement. Brandon Vickerd works in a realm of unreality where the perfect future is chimeral, where there are more questions asked than answers presented. In his recent pieces currently displayed at Art Mûr, we find skeletons of humans and primates. They are dressed in spacesuits, as seen in Monument to the First American in Space, or trailing tentacles and zebra mussels in The Sub-Mariner. The pieces are evocative, and somehow manage to come across as realistic; incongruous bodies and objects have been integrated into fluid forms. Generally, there is either a lot of movement (literal as well as implied) in Vickerd’s work, or a stasis, as seen with these beings frozen in action. They are unabashed in their theatricality. The polished, vibrant sculptures in these galleries represent a kind of death and memorialization. The forms are stripped of flesh and dressed in protective suits (potentially after the implied catastrophes), which appear either manufactured or suggestive of the organic. Ghost Rider...

What would a perfect future look like and how would it be represented for future generations to examine and question? What would we choose to preserve from high art and mainstream cu...

The title of Clint Neufeld’s ceramic incarnation of a Detroit diesel engine, Screaming Jimmy, the first time we met in that field I knew you were the on...

Kamyki original decorative wall mirror (6 pieces), Zieta DImensions: Ø 7-20 cm Material: stainless steel. Dimensions of the set : H. 40 cm W. 61 cm D. 6 c...

Mercury Set of mirrors by Zieta Poetry of multiplication Diameter 150 cm x Depth 7 cm MERCURY is a reflecting installation of 89 air-inflated, bulging, stone-like structures formin...

Kamyki original decorative wall mirror (12 pieces), Zieta DImensions: Ø 7-20 cm Color: Emerald About the Gradient collection: The Gradient collection combines an exceptional depth a...

Kamyki original decorative wall mirror (12 pieces), Zieta DImensions: Ø 7-20 cm Material: stainless steel. Dimensions of the set : H. 86 cm W. 102 cm D. 6 cm About the Zieta collec...

Mercury Transitions (Dark matter) Set of mirrors by Zieta Poetry of multiplication Diameter 150 cm x Depth 7 cm MERCURY is a reflecting installation of 89 air-inflated, bulging, s...

Kamyki original decorative wall mirror (6 pieces), Zieta DImensions: Ø 7-20 cm Material: stainless steel. Color: Emerald Dimensions of the set : H. 40 cm W. 61 cm D. 6 cm About the...