Peter McFarlane conceptually based sculptor, mixed media and installation artist. For him, art is a cathartic necessity. It allows him to engage with a certain self-awareness which, in turn, informs everything he creates.in his words….
The Chainsaw Mask series came about as a result of my connection to Pegasus Gallery on Salt Spring Island – a place I call home. The gallery has a vast collection of indigenous art and artifacts, and I was struck by how similar the shape of a Raven mask was to my chainsaw. As the first chainsaw "shape-shifted" into a metal mask in my studio, the play on ravens as "tricksters" and "gluttons" became obvious. The fate of "clear-cut forests" and "clear-cut cultures" literally seemed to hang in the raven’s beak. I’ve included objects in the work that has transformed landscape, such as the chainsaw, machete, and various saws and blades and, as well, objects that speak symbolically to the loss of culture, history and technology as in the use of typewriter keys for feathers in ‘Ravenous’.
The free standing figurative sculptures generated a narrative with the identity and recognition of the objects explicit in the activity of the figures. The figures gave the work a grounding and scale, a touchstone. The rust represented a patina of history and emphasized the obsolete, blending with the dynamic, though sometimes perilous, activity of the figures. Some of these pieces were done in a collaborative show with Janice Woode. The division of labour was done between my ideas and her figures. The show was in 2008.
The Chainsaw Mask series came about as a result of my connection to Pegasus Gallery on Salt Spring Island – a place I call home. The gallery has a vast collection of indigenous art and artifacts, and I was struck by how similar the shape of a Raven mask was to my chainsaw. As the first chainsaw "shape-shifted" into a metal mask in my studio, the play on ravens as "tricksters" and "gluttons" became obvious. The fate of "clear-cut forests" and "clear-cut cultures" literally seemed to hang in the raven’s beak. I’ve included objects in the work that has transformed landscape, such as the chainsaw, machete, and various saws and blades and, as well, objects that speak symbolically to the loss of culture, history and technology as in the use of typewriter keys for feathers in ‘Ravenous’.
The free standing figurative sculptures generated a narrative with the identity and recognition of the objects explicit in the activity of the figures. The figures gave the work a grounding and scale, a touchstone. The rust represented a patina of history and emphasized the obsolete, blending with the dynamic, though sometimes perilous, activity of the figures. Some of these pieces were done in a collaborative show with Janice Woode. The division of labour was done between my ideas and her figures. The show was in 2008.
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