Sculptural exhibit by Peter Tucker exploring identity through growth
In a bustling opening night on Feb. 7, Peter Tucker unveiled his new exhibit in the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery titled Predisposition.
The collection features Tucker’s sculptural work, done in various types of wood and aluminum. Each piece explores the idea of identity construction and the continuously shifting process of becoming a person.
For Tucker, the installation is a culmination of many years of ideas. Each piece represents the experience of creating an identity and the disruptions that can occur during that journey.
“As I was building, so many more ideas and ways of looking at it came about, because as you build them, they grow themselves and they become their own beings, almost,” said Tucker. “And then I had to learn how to relate to them as I was building it, so then my ideas have changed.”
The large floor-mounted sculpture titled “Effort” is reminiscent of a new plant emerging from the ground because that was what inspired Tucker to consider the effort of creating our own selves.
“When I was sprouting a lot of my own microgreens and watching these sprouts come up to the earth, I was relating that to the beginning of human life. How we are born into the world and then we have to emerge into the world and create a life for ourselves,” said Tucker. “Effort” is actually hollow inside, and so the process of determining the inner and outer parameters of the piece only furthered Tucker’s connection between the sculpture and human identity.
“That’s who we are, right? We have this inner world and we have this outer world for others that view us, that help create our identity and we navigate that space,” said Tucker.
Identity is a topic that Tucker chose to tackle because of his personal background as an adoptee of mixed-race descent, as it has affected the way he views things around him.
The piece featured at the entrance of the gallery, “Pest,” for example, began as a scrap from another unrelated project that struck a chord with Tucker.
“When I looked at the off-cut that I would normally just throw in the waste, I saw life and I saw something in it,” said Tucker. “I think I’m prone or driven to do that because I’ve been adopted. I felt like I was a discarded piece and somebody picked me up and nurtured me, and so I’ve continued that process.”
Predisposition is also a unique exhibition in that the large suspended installation at the centre of the gallery will be transforming during the collection’s time on display. Tucker will be working on the piece throughout the next two months, with 2,500 pieces to be installed before it is complete.
People can stop by the MJMAG and witness Tucker work, or return throughout the exhibition to see the sculpture evolve.
“People can come and visit and they’ll be part of my decision-making process that way to create, again, that exterior that is exhibited to the world, but which also has an interior aspect,” said Tucker.
Tucker will also be appearing in an In Conversation artist talk with MJMAG curator Jennifer McRorie on Apr. 25 at 1 p.m., which is open to the public.
Predisposition is on display alongside Robert Froese’s exhibition Measured Composition, sharing the MJMAG’s gallery space — which McRorie thought created a fascinating dialogue in the gallery space. “I decided that it would be interesting to feature two local artists together, but also they were both working on sculpture and installation,” said McRorie. “And it turns out they’re both exploring performance in the way that they’re presenting their installations, which is really interesting.”
Both Measured Composition and Predisposition will be available to view at the Moose Jaw Museum & Art Gallery until May 3.