PRESENCES

Samuel Roy-Bois

Esker Foundation
Calgary, Alberta
September 26 to December 19, 2020

Curated by Charo Neville

Samuel Roy-Bois’ practice is concerned with the conceptual and material definition of space and the ways the built environment and manufactured things contribute to our understanding of the world. Through sculpture, site-specific installation, and photography, Roy-Bois examines relational networks of objects and their complex philosophical considerations: How do we define ourselves through the creation of structures? Is it possible to conceive of one’s existence outside any material linkage? We make things, but are things also making us?

For this new body of work, Presences, Roy-Bois has created an ensemble of constructed and found objects that consider our contemporary material knowledge. His discrete architectural sculptures act as vessels for everyday things and are separated from the gallery’s architecture by platforms. This series of site-specific improvisational installations present everyday objects in new ways, blur the boundaries between art and life, and shift ordinary things and spaces into a poetic dimension. By connecting sculpture, everyday objects, floor, and ceiling, Roy-Bois manipulates the gallery space as a strategy to create a genuine and direct relationship with the viewer, and his use of everyday items offers a way of understanding our relationship to our environment.

Samuel Roy-Bois: Presences is organized and circulated by the Kamloops Art Gallery. Support for the development and production of new works for the exhibition provided by Esker Foundation.

Samuel Roy-Bois
Sovereign (ladder and mattress), 2019
chromogenic print
Image: Courtesy of the Artist