Saskatchewan Arts Board

Reception: Saturday, November 12th, 2011 at 7:00pm

Grandpa “used to wash my hands with gasoline” features the ceramic sculptures of Saskatchewan artist Clint Neufeld.  To place an emphasis on objects themselves, their creation and history, Neufeld has long concentrated his work on rendering utilitarian items useless.  Porcelain cast engines and transmissions adorned with floral and gilded details ask the viewer to consider both the historical formal and material elements of the objects.  These mechanical implements, once capable of propelling vehicles and generating masculine camaraderie over the time-honoured mechanical tinkering and reverence of “car culture” are transformed into objects of decorative beauty, reclining on pristine furniture and serving as collectable figurines on delicately crafted coffee tables. Conversely, florally porcelain normally reserved for fine china used to serve tea and dainties on special occasions becomes re-contextualized into explicitly masculine forms.

Their massive size and weight is revealed through the soft padding of the furniture compressing into deep folds while coffee tables occupied by transmissions become explicit by their obvious phallic presence.  The dichotomies of Neufeld’s work meet somewhere in between the stereotypical worlds of masculine and feminine symbology and leisurely pastimes, rendering obsolete not only the objects themselves but the very social conventions that they represent.

Clint Neufeld was born and raised in small town Saskatchewan. Prior to pursuing a career in art, Neufeld spent three years with the Canadian military, which included a deployment to the former Yugoslavia in 1994. After a failed attempt pursuing a career as a firefighter Neufeld began his BFA at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and finished at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon. In 2006 he completed his MFA at Concordia University. He now lives and works on an acreage near the town of Osler, Saskatchewan.

The Mann Art Gallery is grateful for the support of Mann Northway Motors, City of Prince Albert, Prince Albert Arts Board, Saskatchewan Arts Board, Canada Council for the Arts, Sask Culture, Sask Lotteries, Museum Association of Saskatchewan, and Canadian Heritage.