Bumperedobjects

Additional Information

Orange, Yellow Object, 1997, aluminum, rubber, stainless steel, paint

With coolness and subtle wry humour, Regina artist John Noestheden creates geometrical aluminum sculptures which acknowledge the persistent force of modernism. He "protects" these metal objects with prophylactic bumpers, suggesting dynamics such as hard/soft, safe/vulnerable, alone/surrounded. Contemplative and playful, the Bumperedobjects confoundingly hint at a complex emotional web which words fail to accommodate. Noestheden is interested in the readings, interactions, and behaviours elicited by his mute creations. Viewers can pick up, handle, and re-arrange Bumperedobjects throughout the gallery. Their peculiar scale, tactility, and formal qualities set adrift various connotations, among them models for scientific or engineering apparatuses, toys, or industrial safety prostheses. Through Bumperedobjects Noestheden has cunningly articulated a psychological gameboard, where industrial dysfunction, humour, and re-invested modernism circulate as constantly shifting coordinates. Born in Amsterdam, John Noestheden is a sculptor residing in Regina. He currently teaches in the Visual Arts Department at the University of Regina. Noestheden has exhibited extensively (most recently at the MacKenzie Art Gallery) and has work in numerous collections in North America.