Hadley + Maxwell resculpting Canada
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As seen at Huffington Post huffingtonpost.ca/stephen-weir/hadley-maxwell-resculptin_b_8838234.html … via @HuffPostCaLiv
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| Hadley (left) + Maxwell (right) |
When the massive Art Gallery of Hamilton
exhibition, are you experienced? ends its six-month run a few days after
New Years, Canadian artists Hadley + Maxwell will be well on their way to owning the title of Canada’s most sought
after sculpting duo! The pair not only front-page
the Hamilton contemporary art exhibition, they are also in the process of
installing an outdoor sculpture in Toronto that will metamorphose the new
community called West
Don Lands.
Hadley+Maxwell
consist of Toronto born 42-year old Hadley Howes and Montreal’s 49-year old
Maxwell Stephens. They currently live and work in Berlin, Germany and travel
the world collaborating on significant art pieces for public galleries,
institutions and well-heeled collectors.
When
talking about themselves and their work, they eschew their birth names. They appear
to see themselves as the Hadley + Maxwell brand because their work is done
exclusively in collaboration and, they find their inspiration in shared ideals.
Recently that shared artistic vision is based on appropriating iconic images
and traditional forms to make public pop-cultural statements!
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| When That was This |
At the
Hamilton gallery Hadley+Maxwell’s
WW1 inspired sculpture - When That was This - dominates the
8,000 square foot exhibition dedicated to cutting-edge 21st century
contemporary art. This piece fills the AGH’s largest space, it is a gallery
filled with hanging body parts that turn in a kaleidoscope of light, video and
sound. It is one huge
mash-up faces, hands and feet in a space of ever changing lights.
“The
title refers to how when we think of things in the past, we think of them in
the present,” explained Hadley. “In this sculpture we are working with
sound and light to offer many different ways of experiencing the moment.”
“We
collect fragments from other public monuments and public memorials, by taking
this substance called cinefoil, a heavy grade of aluminum foil, and pressing it
into these other sculptures (to form molds),” she continues. “ It is a
collection of about 200 pieces from sculptures we have interacted with all over
the world. Seven different cities.”
“We really have
collected a three-dimensional collage,”
says Maxwell. “We focus on faces and
facial gestures. It is a way of making history free for a present (day)
conception of it.”
Although
they live and work in Europe, Hadley+Maxwell spent
much of 2015 in Ontario, supporting the Hamilton exhibition and working on
their latest public installation in Toronto. And even after are you experienced? closes in
Hamilton, they will be back in Toronto throughout the spring overseeing the
installation of Garden of Future Follies, their latest project.
In
2014 Waterfront Toronto awarded a public art commission
for Front Street East in the West Don Lands (a new community space that was
used to house athletes during the 2015 Pan Am Games). While the Pan Am Games are being converted
into housing, Hadley + Maxwell have been on the promenade out front putting
together Garden of Future Follies.
“Garden
of Future Follies will bring the past to life by fragmenting and
rearranging parts of monuments, sculptures and architecture from all over the
City of Toronto,” explains Ciara
McKeown, public art program manager at Waterfront Toronto in a recent blog. ”Based on the idea
of the folly – a fanciful and purely decorative structure popular in 18th
and 19th century romantic gardens and landscapes– this project reimagines a
‘garden of follies’ incorporating elements from monuments that are normally
high above the street and physically out of reach, bringing them down to street
level where they can be celebrated and enjoyed.”
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| When That was This |
This new sculptural work is currently being installed on the
corner of Front Street East and Bayview Avenue. This section of the new Front
Street promenade is using the Hadley + Maxwell creation and two other
commissioned works by Canadian artists to define the emerging neighbourhood.
The sculptures are expected to have a public unveiling early in 2016
In the current Hamilton show and the
soon-to-be launched public artwork, Hadley and Maxwell are touting the idea of
the public monument and its new role in an urban environment.
Earlier this year Videographer George Socka interviewed Hadley + Maxwell in Hamilton. They talked about their installation When That was This. You can see that short video at:https://youtu.be/ODPAZsKDt2g
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