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July 8, 2000 continuing through October
26
aluminum elements of varying dimensions, with stainless steel fittings Regina-based artist John Noestheden was
invited by the Kelowna Art Gallery to propose a sculpture project for the Rotary
Courtyard. The work entitled The Gold You Seek is, in part, a response to
the space and related to his current body of work.
Noestheden described the courtyard as a
container, or a vessel. Accordingly,
he felt the need to address the sense of enclosure and the upward view to the
sky. The solution was to consider a
“subject” beyond the courtyard space. Noestheden chose the Pleiades star
cluster, a minor constellation. He
cut and assembled solid aluminum into polyhedron shapes to represent the
individual cluster formations, the relative scale of the major stars, and
arranged to correspond with the configuration of the Pleiades as seen from
Earth. By coincidence, the Pleiades
occupy 12 quadrants in the astronomical star charts, equal to the number of
paving stones in the central area of the courtyard. In Greek mythology the Pleiades – the
Seven Sisters – were children of
Atlas and Pleione. One day they met
the hunter Orion who fell in love with the young women and began to pursue them.
Zeus intervened and transformed them into doves, to help them escape.
They flew into the sky to become stars in the constellation Taurus the
Bull. It was regarded as the patron
of farmers in Ancient Greece. But
the Pleiades are also significant in other cultures, past and present.
Some ancient astronomers regarded the principal star Alcyone, as the
central sun in our galaxy. The
Babylonians called this star Temennu (Foundation Stone); Arabs, Al
Wasat (the Centre); and Hindus, Amba (the Mother).
In Polynesia and Peru, the new year began when the constellation
reappeared over the horizon. Noestheden sets up a chain of
metaphorical and symbolic meaning between the physical universe (the distant
stars, 425 light years away), their historical-cultural mythologies, and
abstracted mathematical-geometric models in science, developed in order to
describe the unseen, ‘the nature of things’.
The polyhedron elements also make reference to forms that have appeared
in 20th century sculpture. In doing so, he creates an otherworldly
apparition in the quasi-outdoor space of the Gallery courtyard.
Noestheden also makes note of his interest in “investigating the nature of attention.” The polyhedron forms beg our attention and slow down our view. Changing light conditions come into play as the reflections on the facets of the polished aluminum forms becomes part of the experience: the “light becomes metal – metal becomes light.” “I appreciate the ephemeral (nature) of things – the planes twinkling in random succession. The geometric forms made me realize that I’m seeking unquestionable truth.” Noestheden’s title, therefore, refers to that search, and the historical ‘rush for gold’ that drew adventurers and entrepreneurs to remote parts of the work to seek their fortune.
John Noestheden was born in Amsterdam in 1945. He studied at the University of Windsor and Tulane University in New Orleans. He has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions in Canada, and is represented in numerous public and corporate collections in Canada, and the United States, and has created public art commissions for Regina, Toronto, St. Louis, Houston, and Jinan, China. Noestheden is based in Regina and teaches at the University of Regina, Department of Visual Arts. He is exhibiting for the first time in British Columbia. |
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Copyright © 1999 - 2007 KELOWNA ART GALLERY
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