Robin Lambert: BECAUSE IT NEVER OCCURS TO US THAT WE CANNOT

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Robin Lambert, "Because it never occurs to us that we cannot," 2018

ceramic

Artist Reception and Talk: April 27, 2019 2-4pm

Robin Lambert & Brenda Malkinson will be in attendance

"Because it never occurs to us that we cannot,” describes the DNA of Alberta. ‘I am here,’ says Alberta. ‘I must grow.’

It is also a mantra for both the artist and our contemporary cultural impulse. I cannot stop. I do not want to stop. I will not stop. I want to make, to build, to elevate. And when it starts to fall apart, don’t worry, we can hold it together — with spit and string if necessary. The feeling of expansionism echoes across the history of colonized Alberta: Build. Expand. Repeat. Crush that which came before. The party must go on. The party must go on and the stories about their glory must be told and retold.

The ceramic works throughout Robin Lambert’s (Red Deer) exhibition are in various states of disrepair and conservation. Some pieces stand tall and erect, new and shiny, gold and brazen, while others are in a precarious and dilapidated condition, holding on to what form they can keep. All the sculptures are porcelain, glazed with celadon, two materials from far away and, much like materials produced in Alberta, have their own long histories. They have been as much creative materials as desirable, tradable, and expensive commodities. And now, the fragility and beauty of these materials belay the useful function that the structures may have once possessed and all that remains is to fix or replace them. The party must go on.  

Robin Lambert is an artist and educator interested in social practice, ceramic, and craft. Born on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, his childhood was spent living throughout Western Canada before his family eventually settled in Northern Alberta. These wandering ways continued through his adult life, before he too settled down long enough to earn a BFA from Alberta College of Art + Design and an MFA from the University of Regina. His projects and exhibitions have been shown in Canada, the United States, and, Australia.