LAUNCH  2009 ART ON PUBLIC LANDS PROJECT

JOHN DICKSON-LANDS END 

John Dickson completed his Master of Fine Arts at York University in 1989. He is a founding member of the Toronto Collective Nether Mind. Past exhibitions include solo shows at the Koffler Gallery, Mercer Union, Robert Birch and the Archive Inc. in Toronto, Plup In Inc in Winnipeg and Optica in Montreal. He has also exhibited internationally in the Czech Republic, Copenhagen, Denmark and in Paris, France. Dickson has also mounted two outdoor sculptural works for the Tree Museum. Dickson has just completed a major outdoor commission in Toronto for 2009.

Earlier this year John Dickson mounted an indoor exhibition at the gallery titled Two Cities.  This outdoor diorama construction called LANDS END includes a stream of running water that runs like a river from the centre of the piece to the ground level.

Water, smoke and weather systems play a key role in the production of many of Dickson’s pieces. ‘Intentional’ and ‘unintentional’ forces are at work in this artist’s compositions.  Energy is extrapolated and harnessed by Dickson within the confines of his projects. Mechanized devices are designed experiments, interventions that conjure whimsical yet serious relationships. The artist mystifies the viewer. The intention is not to perfect his built projects for some functional everyday use, for these; machines, built cities, or constructed models, reveal an unconscious side of physics. Such models give the viewer access to the foreboding or hidden forces that come to bear on humanity and its history.

 Maralynn Cherry (Curator)