John Greer: Transitional Understandings
John Greer The Sirens 2009
Senior Canadian artist John Greer won a Governor General’s Award last March; now Galerie Samuel Lallouz mounts Greer’s first north-of-the-49th solo show since the prize, offering a peek at some recent works. Formerly a sculpture professor at NSCAD, Greer is perhaps most widely known for his public-art works, which include Reflection – Monument to Canadian Aid Workers in Ottawa and Origins in the courtyard of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax. Whether indoors or out, certain themes figure prominently in Greer’s work. One theme is varied scale—over the course of his career, the artist has super-sized grains of rice, plum seeds, human bones, leaves and other elements. Another vein of his work draws on ancient iconography, with northern, Greek and Egyptian imagery all making an appearance in different guises. Finally, trompe d’oeil is a recurring effect, with Greer’s combination of outsized scale, historical appropriation and contemporary materials generating objects that can be slippery to comprehend at first. Indeed, “Apprehension,” the Lallouz exhibition, would seem to extend these themes. The show is comprised of nine works, including Hiroshima and Take Off, Little Boy!—seemingly identical hieroglyphic fragments rendered in limestone and styrene, respectively. Age of Irony resembles a rusted, upside-down metal sculpture from millennia past, but is actually painted polystyrene. And The Source is a large bronze sculpture of a seed. According to Greer’s artist statement, the ultimate aim is “a transitional understanding…coming to grips with the world we made”—a formidable goal for a formidable and longstanding creative force. (1434 Sherbrooke O, Montreal QC)
John Greer Age of Irony 2006
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