Architect as Artist

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Installation view featuring “Cut / Drawn 6M," in foreground, and “Cut / Drawn 6S" by John Patkau and “Intended Augmentation” by Markus Schaller (photo by Shane O’Brien)

Acclaimed Vancouver architect John Patkau knows steel. It’s a key element in the buildings he designs – the Audain Art Museum in Whistler, B.C., the Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver and the University of Manitoba’s Art Lab in Winnipeg, among others. With Cut / Drawn, on view at Vancouver’s Gallery Jones until Jan. 20, Patkau has transformed a utilitarian alloy, industrial steel plate, into six remarkable sculptures.

“I’ve always viewed architecture as an art form no different from sculpture,” says Patkau. “Architecture is more complex in that you’re dealing with a whole bunch of other issues, but for me the objective is similar. They both have a formal ambition. In architecture, form comes first and material is instrumental in achieving that. About 10 years ago, I began to think about reversing that priority, thinking about material first and then form. When you do some things to steel, what does it become?”

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John Patkau, “Cut / Drawn 4M," 2016

steel, 70" x 36" x 24" (photo courtesy of the artist)

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John Patkau, “Cut / Drawn 6M," 2016

steel, 68" x 28" x 26" (photo courtesy of the artist)

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Experimentation revealed that when scored with multiple cuts and then pulled apart by a crane, a steel plate changes from a flat sheet to a curved form in less than a minute. It’s hard to believe Patkau’s graceful, undulating forms started life as squares, circles or triangles. Weathering Steel, for instance, took 20,000 pounds of linear force as it was reshaped. Patkau shied away from computer-aided design or simulations, letting the material itself dictate the result.

“This method allows for a much more complex, subtle, harmonic form than applying an idea to the material. It’s a dialogue. Steel and I are talking to each other and this is the consensus we’ve been able to come to.”

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Markus Schaller, “Forced Warping,” 2017

aluminum, 32" x 32" (photo courtesy of the artist)

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Markus Schaller, “Pattern Language,” 2017

aluminum, 28" x 28" (photo courtesy of the artist)

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Space Garden, a collection of eight aluminum constructions by German artist Markus Schaller completes the two-person show. Schaller uses a hydraulic press to stamp his pieces with multiple pentagrams, the shape of nature, he says.

“This is based on poetry. This is the language of nature, the language of flowers.”

In Pattern Language, the pentagrams are large and the pattern is shallow. With Forced Warping, the pattern is more intricate and recessed, inviting viewers to peer in for closer inspection. In addition, the pressure of the press has forced the sheet’s edges to curl away from the wall. Schaller says he’s redefining space with a geometric motif that required a calculated, mathematical approach. Patkau’s pieces, on the other hand, were realized through trial and error. 4M is the result of 30 test runs.

“What’s central to his practice is the point of failure of steel,” says gallery partner Shane O’Brien. “It takes the form of something else. With Markus, it’s the same thing. He’s taking these aluminum sheets and stamping them to the point where they’re stressed and the stress is actually changing the shape of the aluminum.”

Two artists, two visions: Both use industrial machines to achieve different results.