Looking Back, Moving Forward – Reflecting on the Maskull Lasserre Exhibition

IMMOVABLE OBJECTS, UNSTOPPABLE FORCE

January 12, 2018 – April 8, 2018

Held with special thanks to Arsenal

Artist Maskull Lasserre used this show to blur the lines between gallery space, artist’s tools, and the artwork itself. His tools were part of the sculptures themselves. This need to display the tools used in his artistic process informed the ideas that lie beneath the surface of the work. By blurring the usual lines between the creation of the artwork and everything else, we can gain a unique insight to the infinite number of possible meanings behind the work displayed.

“I never make anything that I readily understand. My work is designed to project me beyond the comfort of what I already know. This approach demands that I grow through the challenge of each piece, to be delivered at the feet of the next.” – Maskull Lasserre

Art at Home ideas

According to your experience with the images below:

How does Maskull’s philosophy change the way you think about needing to ‘get’ art?

What types of contrasts are in his artworks?; heavy/light, hard/soft, etc

Do you think it’s exciting that an artist explores the meaning of the work while creating the work?

Looking at his pieces, how do some of them make you feel?  What do they make you think about?

The Carlstrom Family Green Space at Home

Maskull Lasserre has said that, when he holds something, he’s not sure yet if it’s a tool or a piece of art. The artist believes that there is modesty and humility in carving. There are many tools you use on a regular day, like a fork at dinner, that we don’t even think about as a tool. What kind of tool will you carve in this activity?

Materials List:
Plasticine or Play-Doh
Tools – popsicle stick, rolling pin or fork, clothespins, twine, rubber bands or any other found object in your home

Art at Home links and resources

Lasserre participated in the group show, Dismaland, an anti-amusement park art installation. Click the image to view the link. Dismaland Image Toby Melville, Reuters
Click the exhibition catalogue above to view or download.

Click the image above to visit Maskull’s website.

More about Maskull Lasserre

Maskull Lasserre (born Calgary, 1978) spent his formative years in South Africa before returning to Canada. He holds a BFA in Visual Art and Philosophy from Mount Allison University (NB), and an MFA in Studio Art from Concordia University (QC). Maskull’s work has been exhibited at Banksy’s Dismaland, and at the Museum of Art and Design in New York. He has held visiting artist positions at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, at Kohler Art/Industry and with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan. His work appears on Canadian numismatic coinage and is represented in collections in Canada, the US and Europe, including those of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art, the Musée National des Beaux-arts du Quebec, and the Canadian War Museum. He has completed several public art commissions, and taught sessionally at Concordia, York, and Emily Carr Universities, as well as at the California College of Art.

Share With Us!

Participate in our education activities by clicking the images above! You can share your artwork with us by using the hashtag #ArtatHomeGP. If you’d like us to REPOST your artwork as well, please send us an email at Jamie-Lee@aggp.ca with the image, title and artist’s name attached.

Exhibition

Click to enlarge