SAMUEL ROY-BOIS: It’s not me, it’s my central nervous system.

EXHIBITION

SAMUEL ROY-BOIS
It’s not me, it’s my central nervous system.
Opening reception: Sat, Nov 13, 2021, 12-5
Exhibition: Nov 13 – Dec 18, 2021

Click here to view the exhibition PDF.

For further information, please contact the gallery.

Wil Aballe Art Projects | WAAP
1129 East Hastings St.
Vancouver, BC V6A 1S3
waapart.com

Hours: Tu – Sat, 12-5
wil.aballe@gmail.com
+17782293458

Assumption #1

All the sculptures in this exhibition have existed well before I even started to make them. I showed up and moved some of the aggregated particles that had form the matter. I moved particles around, removed chunks, displaced dust and dirt. I pushed stuff out of the way. All these sculptures existed before I showed up to the studio: all materials were already floating around, the colors were already inhabiting the world, the required skills already in use, the forms and ideas already recognized and circulating. I facilitated the emergence of a tangible manifestation of what would otherwise only have been a fleeting mental model.

Assumption #2

We disagree with the trajectory that matter is taking, and realise that the only form our disagreement can have is the transformation of that said matter.

Assumption#3

The objects I created are meaningful from the mere fact of their existence. I am an agent exclusively motivated by the purpose to bring a certain information into the future. I concluded, for some vague reason, that art-making was the best strategy to bring that little bit of information further down.

Assumption #4

Sculptures must portray the performing of their own making. The gestures leading to the emergence of a form are visible, the choices made in their conception must be manifest. That clarity is however only there to conceal the unadulterated darkness of the unknown, and entertain the obscurity associated to travelling through the unidentified.

Assumption #5

All fabricated objects are the manifestation of a form of anticipation. We build things because we expect something specific to happen. We make because we fear. Most of the fabricated objects surrounding us are tools created in anticipation of changes. The pieces in this exhibition are an attempt to repress a reflex of anticipation. There is a minimal amount of fear involved in the making of these sculptures.

Assumption #6

The only relationship with reality that we are aware of is a simulation. Objects have the potential to provide the narratives that can explain, justify and reassert the model inside which each of us is living.

Assumption #7

Any object has the potential to carry meaning unrelated to its initial purpose.

Samuel Roy-Bois (Quebec city, 1973) is an award-winning artist and Associate Professor in Sculpture at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan campus. He is widely recognized for his large-scale installations and interdisciplinary practice exploring the complex dynamics defining our relationships to the built environment. His work, which includes sculpture, installation, performance, photography, drawing and writing, explores the role of objects in sensemaking. His practice is broad, and finds inspiration in the everyday, the critique of modes of cultural production and the pure pleasure of making. Roy-Bois has an MFA Degree in Studio Arts from Concordia University (Montréal) and a BFA from Université Laval, (Quebec city). His work has been presented at The Esker Foundation, Calgary; The Polygon Gallery, North Vancouver; Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Musée National des Beaux Arts du Québec, Québec city; SFU Art Gallery, Burnaby; Oakville Art Galleries, Oakville; Kamloops Art Gallery; Vancouver Art Gallery and Point éphémère, Paris.