A nine-foot-tall sculpted head, enlarged and stretched vertically, is only one of Evan Penny’s works that has the remarkable quality of looking simultaneously real and fake. This Canadian sculptor’s exhibition at the AGO incites more gasps of shock than nods of quiet contemplation.
Evan Penny with Aerial / PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ART GALLERY OF ONTARIO
“Evan Penny: Refiguring The Human Form“ showcases Penny’s work from the past decade up until his most recent creations. Penny’s earlier works are relatively conservative and, for the most part, do not feature the artist’s now signature alterations of the human form. Penny’s more recent sculptures straddle the line between realism and distortion. A bust of the artist, for example, is slightly stretched and flattened in a manner which makes the work look like a two-dimensional photograph rather than a three-dimensional sculpture.
Penny’s body of work, aside from being visually impressive, also engages the viewer intellectually by questioning how we view the human form. The distortions in Penny’s work, along with their realistic qualities, highlight the tension between the authenticity of reality and its representation.
Penny’s fascination with the human form began while he was working as a special effects artist, making prosthetics for Hollywood films. His work is a product of meticulous craftsmanship, and he is involved in every step of the creation process, which begins with the digital scans that he uses to create handmade clay models of his subjects. His final works are constructed using a variety of materials, sometimes including human hair.
Visitors of “Refiguring The Human Form” will be pleased to know that the exhibit’s curator, aware of the inevitable impulse to reach out and touch Penny’s life-like works, set up a “touching station,” where visitors can feel some of the materials used in the sculptures’ construction. There is also a viewing room in the exhibit where a short film describing Penny’s processes is screened.
“Refiguring The Human Form” is such an engaging exhibition because it offers so much: a fascinating visual experience, an astute comment on the objectivity of perspective, and an example of painstaking craftsmanship. The one problem with this exhibit is that, occupying only five rooms of the museum, it is a little too short and sweet.
“Evan Penny: Refiguring The Human Form” runs at the AGO until February 10.
