Boom Town (2007-2009)
Modelled after former industrial buildings along Montreal’s Lachine Canal, Boom Town is an installation of print-based sculptures that considers the possibilities after industrial obsolescence. Meticulously rendered from source photographs, these etching plates are first printed as blueprints, and later cut and folded to make small-scale paper architectures. Finally, the end of the edition is marked by soldering the plates together, thwarting the process of mass production, while giving the plates a new purpose. Piled on top of one another, these sculptures can be read as a mass burial site, monument, or heap of scrap metal. The incongruity of these industrial structures built delicately out of paper reminds us of the one-time assumption of invincibility within these industries.
Boom Town was produced with the support of The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation
Boom Town (Installation View, AKA Gallery), etching on paper, wood, zinc etching plates, 2009.
Photo: Tod Emel
Photo: Tod Emel
Pile, zinc etching plates, 4' x 4' x 2', 2009
Canada Maltage Ltd., zinc etching plates, 22" x 9" x 5", 2007.
Shewing Cork Works Ltd., zinc etching plates, 18" x 12" x 4", 2008.
Silo no. 5, etching on paper, 34" x 5" x 9", 2008.
Ogilvie Flour Mills Ltd., etching on paper, 24" x 16" x 11", 2008.
New City Gas Company Ltd., etching on paper, 14" x 7" x 3", 2008.
Geo W. Reed Co., etching on paper, 16" x 13" x 3", 2009.
Dow Brewery, etching on paper, 2008.
Canada Maltage Ltd., etching on paper, 2007.
Simmons Mattress Co., etching on paper, 30" x 22", 2009
Shewing Cork Works Ltd., etching on paper, 30" x 22", 2008
Silo no. 5, etching on paper, 44" x 30", 2008
Ogilvie Flour Mills Ltd., etching on paper, 30" x 44", 2008.