The Shape of Things (2018)

Kelly Lycan

5580 No. 3 Rd

Area: City Centre
Location: Art work is prominently featured at the building entrance and is located below the sky train rail on the east side of No. 3 Rd.

Materials: Hand painted waterjet cut aluminum.

Program: Private
Ownership: Private
Sponsored By: Beedie Living

Description of Work

Five silhouette forms, cut from 1/2” aluminum sheet, lean together and are the reconfiguration of traditional silhouette shapes displayed on mantles. The viewer will encounter the artwork as an abstract sculpture but upon further inspection and over time,"the shapes" will reveal themselves as actual objects found in people’s homes.

Artist Statement

The Shape of Things references a specific feature of many people’s homes: the mantelpiece. For generations, the fireplace mantel has been a common place for the display of personal objects and images having sentimental value. These objects represent both family history and the mass production of goods. For this art work, such objects found in private homes were photographed and translated into shapes, with the surrogate cut-outs arranged in a new configurations and painted shades of ‘white’ selected from a designer house paint collection.

Through this artwork Lycan investigates the way objects and images are placed and displayed in the world and the cycle of value through which they pass. She continues to materially store, order and re-order consumer culture while looking at relationships between industrial design and contemporary art practices. Lycan considers how aesthetic values are created, how materials are used in the formation of identities and ideologies, and how these forms take up space in our lives.