Artworks

An excerpt from the Artist's statement:

"I still have time to examine the sculpture on the plaza. From the ticket booth I can see a boulder that has been sawn through horizontally, its cut surface honed to a matte finish, and a large aluminum shell hovering over it. Beside the shell, an open-frame wall of stainless steel supports an aluminum canopy. When I get closer, I can make out a doorway in the frame. Some kids are slipping through it easily, but when I try to copy them, I find I have to turn sideways to get through. Once I'm through the wall, I can see how the aluminum shell works; if I stand beneath it, I can look up into its interior. Its ribbed insides give back light in a space that, though it only covers the top of my head, feels as private as a phone booth. When I whistle to test its resonance, it gives back a ringing sound. The boulder is beside me, and I can lean against it, one arm thrown up and resting on it smooth, level top." Mowry Baden June 19, 2003

Mowry Baden has lived and worked in Canada since 1971. He has practiced sculpture for over 40 years and has taught sculpture at Raymond College, Pomona Clollege, UBC, and the University of Victoria, from which he retired in 1997.

Over the past 40 years, he has developed various methods of decentering vision and interfering with habitual human gestures. He has built harnesses, furniture, rooms, pathways and catwalks, all with the goal of impinging upon the viewer's movements and awakening a physical self-awareness that was previously unconscious.