SOREL ETROG

12 OCTOBER to 1 DECEMBER 2018

Barbara Edwards Contemporary is pleased to present a solo exhibition by renowned artist, Sorel Etrog. This exhibition features Etrog’s sculptures and works on paper from 1971-73. The sculptures, cast bronzes in the shapes of banal objects such as bolts, nuts and screws, coated in bright automobile enamels, mark a departure from his earlier style of white marble and dark bronze figures.

Finding an eye-screw in the streets of Toronto in 1971 presented Etrog with a new way to look at sculpture. The object seemed as if it were a part of one of his earlier sculptures. The screw and various commonplace objects became a foundation for abstraction, enabling Etrog to explore with playful, erotic, and sometimes humorous elements in his work. Etrog took the abstraction even further in his works on paper, forming undefined narratives and what he called “eye-screw hieroglyphs”.

Born in Romania, Sorel Etrog immigrated to Canada in 1963 and quickly established himself as one of North America’s pre-eminent sculptors. His career spanned over 50 years and involved collaborations with Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, John Cage and Marshall McLuhan. Etrog represented Canada at the 1966 Venice Biennale and received numerous important commissions including the EXPO ‘67, Sunlife Centre Toronto, and Olympic Park Seoul Korea. In 1968, he designed the Canadian Film Award more commonly known as the Genie. He was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 1994 and was made a Chevalier of Arts and Letters by the Government of France in 1996. Etrog’s work is held in the permanent collection of institutions such as the Tate Museum in London, the Museum of Modern Art and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Kunstmuseum in Basel, Musée National d’Art Moderne in Paris, The Tel-Aviv Museum, The Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery of Canada.

Barbara Edwards Contemporary is the exclusive representative of the Estate of Sorel Etrog.

For more information, contact:
barbara@becontemporary.com