"Achilles"
11.23.13 | Presentation House Fundraiser Catalogue
Elspeth Pratt’s sculptures reveal her interest in the social spaces of architecture. She uses a variety of ubiquitous materials, from plywood to beverage containers, to express the ways in which architectural forms and materials structure our lives. Her most recent sculptures of mundane collaged materials are precariously perched, sometimes leaning on a wall for support. These finely calibrated assemblages reflect the provisional aspects of structures in space. Pratt’s artworks are included in collections across Canada. She has shown both nationally and internationally for the past three decades since graduating with an MFA from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver in 1984. Recent solo exhibitions include archetypes at the Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, 2004, Nonetheless at the Cooley Art Gallery, Portland, 2011, and Second Date, a large scale public art project at Vancouver Art Gallery’s Offsite exhibition space, 2011. She currently teaches visual art at Simon Fraser University and is represented by Diaz Contemporary, Toronto.
Javier Campos co-founded the interdisciplinary design studio Campos Beckie Studio alongside Michael Beckie in 2009. Their studio engages in projects that extends from creating buildings and their environments to installations, branding, and communication design. Their methodology is founded on the opportunities afforded by a project’s material production and an engagement with the logistics of design processes, driven by a rigorous commitment to processes of discovery. Campos has worked collaboratively with Elspeth Pratt on public art projects.
Pratt and Campos have burnt the form of their assembled Sedia 1, adding a layer of soft and dense charcoal with one leg–or heel–left vulnerable and exposed. This particular process of burning is known as shou sugi ban, a traditional Japanese charring technique that seals and preserves wood.
