JOHN GREER
JOHN GREER

APPREHENSION – APPRÉHENSION, 2009

Galerie Samuel Lallouz, Montreal, PQ Canada

 

Apprehend with apprehension. We think we know the world around us – but really what we know is – us. Apprehension simultaneously is understanding and questioning. A transitional understanding allows us to remain mentally flexible.

One must remember that our shared reality, our culture in the larger sense, is a construct. Things are not necessarily what they appear to be. With these sculptures I am asking for distinctions to be considered between – memory and history, the different forms of sustenance – mental, cultural, physical; allusion and illusion, virtual and haptic.

To charge a mind and change a mind, it takes an open mind to grow. This exhibition endeavours to open up space, physical and mental. It allows for a coming to grips with the world we made - to apprehend.       John Greer

 

List of works:

 

Gravity, 1998

Two Elements, Bronze; Each Feather 96” x 22” x 6” (244cm x 56cm x 15cm)

Age of Irony, 2006

Painted Polystyrene, 72” x 27” x 7” (183cm x 67cm x 18cm)

Double Lie, 2009

Painted Fibreglass, 125” x 30” x 16” (317cm x 76cm x 41cm)

Hiroshima - Texas Limestone, 2007

Texas Limestone, 48” x 39” x 3” (122cm x 99cm x 7.5cm)

“Take off, little Boy!”, 2007

Polystyrene, epoxy, Texas sand; 48” x 39” x 3” (122cm x 99cm x 7.5cm)

The Sirens, 2009

Aluminium, 4 Elements; Each figure: 71” x 27” x 8” (180cm x 67cm x 20cm)

The Source, 1998 (edition of 2)

Bronze, 38” x 27” x 8” (96cm x 68cm x 20cm)

Duende, 2007 (1/5)

Intaglio Print, 42” x 84” (107cm x 213cm)

Soundings, 2009

Collage, 108” x 42” (274cm x 107cm)

 

Please see also the Press Release below the images on this page.

Press Release Galerie Samuel Lallouz:

 

MONTREAL, November 13, 2009 — Gallery Samuel Lallouz is pleased to present Apprehension a solo exhibit of sculptor and visual artist John Greer’s most recent works. They comprise various media, including: bronze, aluminum, fiberglass, painted polystyrene, and limestone. The exhibition opens on December 1, 2009 and runs through February 18. All are welcome.

The eponymous title provides the theme of Greer’s show, which challenges viewers to question their own perception of the world we have created. Appearances can be deceiving – deception and illusion play a prominent role in Greer’s sculptures, and are often used to stress the ways in which cultures and environments are constructed based on perception. Traces of irony and humor are evident in his works, such as Age of Irony (2006), a gravity defying life-size figure hanging upside down – apparently composed of heavy cast iron; in reality it is made from four pounds of polystyrene with a thin coat of rustable paint.

 

Archaic Greek and ancient Egyptian models serve as symbols in these contemporary pieces, echoing the birth of Western sculptural ideals. Time stands still in John Greer’s work. He draws from the past not only to unearth the foundations of our current political and cultural ideologies, but also to critique them and their historical evolution. In his piece Hiroshima – Texas Limestone (2006), Greer references an ancient Egyptian funeral scene dating back from 1330 B.C.E. to concretize the development of the nuclear bomb and the genesis of human destruction. Greer’s artistic labors reveal a deep interest in the root of human knowledge and shared understanding.

 

Rarely do we see Greer’s figures in their entirety; often inverted, cut in half, or even magnified in size. Akin to our reality they are never whole, always fragmented – as is our apprehension of our own environment. Greer’s sculptural works push the boundaries of space, physically, mentally and temporally. They reveal the artist’s own attempt to apprehend the world – and re-connect the past with the present.

You can contact me directly here:

 john@artistjohngreer.com

Bus Shelter in Halifax with retroActive poster!
Thinking Back to Gertrude and Henrie, 2015
Installation View retroActive with Threshold, 2015; Civilization, 1990/91; PaperMoney, 2012
Wait of Water by John Greer, 2014 Bay of Fundy Detail of Wait of Water, October 9th, 2014; retroActive tied up, tide down, looking back across the bay where the piece was first realized in 1972
National Gallery of Canada : THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
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© John Greer