John W. Ford: House not a Home

January 9 – March 29, 2014

Reception: January 16, 6 – 8 pm
Artist’s Talk: February 27, 12:30 – 1:20 pm

The McMaster Museum of Art is pleased to present this exhibition of recent sculptural works by John W. Ford, McMaster School of the Arts faculty member.

The world, in its vast entirety, can easily be broken down into a series of small objects. Each tiny piece plays an important part in the whole, and it is those relationships that fascinate Ford.

“I am interested in the power of small objects, and collections of small objects, to catalyze interpretation and speculative meaning,” he said. “As an archaeologist examines a potsherd to gain insight into the individuals or groups who created the original pot, or as the paleontologist studies a fossil to comprehend ancient life in its context, my interest is to examine and present small objects for their potential to evoke aesthetic, intellectual, and/or emotional responses in the viewer.”

House not a Home comprises three house-shaped glass vitrines, each containing architectural structures, complex networks of ramps, tracks, pulleys and numerous found objects. The assemblies are at once sentimental and unsettling. The small objects under glass – a discarded lighter, photo, clock-face, old shoe, toys and figurines – invite closer examination, suggesting narratives of home, family and the passage of time. These stories unfold within structures of glass and scaffolding, unstable and impermanent keepers of memory – houses, but not homes.