Powertrains and Peacocks

Saskatoon-based artist Clint Neufeld creates work that honours the beauty of design and craftsmanship in everyday objects. Ranging from classic engines to fine china design, these objects are not as disparate as you may first think.

The skill and intricacy required to make truly beautiful things is apparent in Neufeld’s sculpture Sad Seahorse, a ceramic replica of a slightly wilted Seahorse engine glazed in the colour of celadon china. He has chosen not to use the typical museum pedestal to present this work, instead the Sad Seahorse is draped over an antique, floral upholstered settee. The structure and form of this object is elegant in its repose from its many years of work and service. These objects document and record a time past, an era before planned obsolescence took precedence, when there was quality, beauty and craftsmanship in functional everyday objects.

What engages Neufeld is not only the structure of these objects but the history and context implied by the materials used to make them. How they are shaped or manipulated into new forms enriches the context and meaning of that visual language. These works play with the characteristics imposed or expected of the material. In his new series of light boxes, Neufeld uses a clean contemporary aesthetic in building the frames that contain silhouette like portraits of three opulent subjects: the peacock, the Trans-Am, and the chandelier.