Small is beautiful
Artist known for his quirky timepieces tackles something that doesn’t tick
THESE MIGHT BE the only works of art to come with a free can of Dust Blaster. Leave it to Roger Wood to think of that.
The Hamilton artist is well-known for his timepieces, or klockwerks, as he calls them. He constructs the quirky clocks from ready-made objects.
For Stories Without Words, his exhibition at Carnegie Gallery in Dundas, Wood tackles something that doesn’t tick. The exquisitelyintricate constructions, or assemblages, hang on walls and stand on floors. They incorporate layers of found, often mass-produced, objects — many of them teeny-tiny.
“I have created assemblages in the distant past,” says Wood, 76. “But this current series started about three years ago when I was asked to make a small piece for a fundraiser. I got a great response and decided to make more. They’re a nice break from the timepieces.”
Like a storyteller who begins with an idea or two, Wood knows what gets him going.
“I have my own rules for these pieces,” he tells me. “Each will start with a sinuous human figure, a tree or two and birds. After that, each piece will go its own way.”
A familiar copy of the Statue of Liberty stands in the top centre of Stories Without Words #1705. It’s small in scale compared with a bird that flies above it on the right. A sun with a face hovers behind the bird. To the right of Liberty, a female winged Victory figurine stands holding a torch with her arms up in the air.
Wood’s horror vacui leaves no space unfilled. Birds, flowers, letters, part of a building, spirals and a bare tree jostle for attention.
“I have hundreds of boxes, drawers and bins of loosely catalogued bits and pieces to choose from,” he says. “I find them at thrift stores, flea and antique markets, auctions including eBay, art and craft stores and specialty stores such as model train shops.”
Since some of the objects are mass produced, they do pop up again. Birds and letters, for instance, grace Stories Without Words #1613.
The central circle, topped by an eastern type of goddess, contains a seated man on the right and a woman on the left flanking a stand topped by a cup and saucer.
The base of this piece looks like an ornate ceiling fixture. That’s no big deal: Wood used a salad bowl for the base of another piece.
“Sometimes I use just a plain piece of wood. A couple of pieces were created from wooden table tops. Other times I use ready-shaped pieces from art and craft stores. And, yes, I did make one from a large wooden salad bowl — one of my favourites.”
The head of a stag looks out from the top of “Stories Without Words #1625.” This oval relief includes a man with a sword, a chess piece, a smiling sun, birds, flowers, letters and a seated man.
How does he know when a piece is finished?
“Sometimes it’s when I run out of room for more. Otherwise it’s when my intuition tells me to stop.”
Wood unifies his compositions by painting everything white. The paleness and the abundance of detail recall Northern European medieval ivory reliefs.
Ancient ivories were notorious dust magnets.
Wood is offering a can of Dust Blaster with every purchase.
“It’s the best way to dust them.” Roger Wood, Stories Without Words #1705, mixed media, $550.