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Contemporary Art Gallery

555 Nelson Street
Vancouver, Canada
Closed for installation
until October 18, 2024

Admission always free
ArchiveExhibition
4 Dec 93until15 Jan 94

Noel Harding

555 Hamilton St

A closeup of a small sculpture on a concrete floor. The work is a cardboard box on a small wood ramp. The corner of the box is open, a screwdriver with a clear handle shaped like a lightbulb inside.

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition by Toronto/Amsterdam-based artist Noel Harding. Harding has been exhibiting since 1972 and in recent years has gained an international reputation for his sculptural installations and for public art commissions. In 1988, he had a retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and in 1993 a major exhibition of recent work was mounted at the Palace of Exhibitions in Budapest. His public art commissions include the Mississauga City Hall in 1990, and a rooftop sculpture for the City of Amsterdam in 1991.

The three multi-component sculptures to be exhibited at the Contemporary Art Gallery were included in the Budapest exhibition and will then be travelling to Moscow after the Vancouver showing. Harding uses industrial materials such as corrugated cardboard, aluminum beading, and glass bottles. One of the sculptures is three metres high and consists of two suit jackets made of cardboard that are mounted on a metal armature. These giant jackets are expressively formed and, as presented by Harding, convey a sense of humour with his debunking of heroics of monumental sculpture and the authority of the suit.