Art – Page 2 – My Second Running Life

The Van Gogh to Van Gogh Photo Run

My photo run was bookended by two very different pieces of public art in Calgary. The pieces have a couple of things in common. Both are large, impressive sculptural works. And both have Vincent Van Gogh as their subject.

What a coincidence! I decided to do some research after I got home. But first, it was time to explore on foot. Here’s my route from Strava:

And here’s what I found out about the artworks and the artists.

Van Gogh Observes, by Joe Fafard

I parked on 4th Street SW in Mission, near Masters Gallery, for the start of my easy run. I always like checking out what’s on display in their windows. Whatever else I happen to see, I can stop to admire the large piece installed just outside the gallery.

That piece, Van Gogh Observes (VGO), is a major sculpture by the late Joe Fafard. I wrote about Fafard last fall, when I photographed Do Re Mi Fa Sol La Si Do, his sculpture comprising eight stampeding horses. That piece is installed in Harley Hotchkiss Park in downtown Calgary.

Fafard’s piece is big and colourful. It’s fantastic. Van Gogh silently watches everything going on outside the gallery… hence the title. And from his vantage point, he’s seen a lot since the piece was unveiled in 2019. Van Gogh Observes was one of Fafard’s last major works… he died in March of the same year.

Although it wasn’t taken during my recent run, here’s one of my favourite pictures at that location. This couple seems to be deep in conversation with Vincent.

Fafard was famous for his sculptural works, which often have a highly animated look. He sculpted livestock, people and other subjects, in bronze or laser-cut steel. His work is always visually appealing. This is certainly true of VGO. I think Fafard’s use of bold yellow and blue was a nod to Van Gogh’s frequent use of the same colours. It’s a piece that brightens up bleak winter days in Calgary.

Even from the back, it’s an amazing piece to look at.

Van Gogh Observes (Joe Fafard), from the rear

Van Gogh Monumental, by Bruno Catalano

I made my way to the UPTEN building at 10 Avenue and 1 Street SE to see Bruno Catalano’s 2020 painted bronze statue, Van Gogh Monumental. The four-metre-tall statue on the southeast corner of the intersection presents the artist walking purposefully while holding a well-used suitcase and carrying a painting on his back. He walks in the direction of the downtown core.

The statue is part of Catalano’s Les Voyageurs series, all of which depict characters in motion. Many of Catalano’s sculptures, including this one, have a large diagonal gap, really a gash, at mid-torso. The sculptures seem to defy physics… they shouldn’t be standing, but they do. Catalano’s bio tells us he discovered this technique when he had a casting accident with an earlier piece. He liked the result, and he incorporated it into many of his subsequent works. It’s become his trademark.

Catalano’s sculpture invites speculation about its meaning. What is Van Gogh searching for? Where is he headed? Maybe there are clues in Catalano’s own story. He was born in Morocco. His French-Italian family moved to Marseille when he was ten. Catalano has Jewish ancestors, who were expelled from Spain in the 15th century, and eventually settled in North Africa. The theme of travelling, of searching nomadically, seems to fit naturally into his art.

I find it interesting that Catalano chose Van Gogh for this sculpture, because most of his subjects are anonymous people. Here, he has chosen one of the world’s most famous and troubled artists. We shouldn’t be surprised to see Van Gogh searching for something while carrying his worldly possessions and his art. The gap in the statue is visually startling, but it also reinforces the idea that the subject has lost something quite fundamental.

Conclusion

As I jogged back to my car, I pondered the two art pieces I had just seen. I like both the Fafard and the Catalano pieces, even though they give us very different takes on an artist we all have some familiarity with.

The Fafard piece is approachable. Its animated look and bright colours give us an optimistic Van Gogh. Like the couple pictured above, we feel we could have a conversation with the man in the statue. That might explain why the statue is a huge attraction. I often see pedestrians stopping to admire it (or have a chat.)

On the other hand, the Catalano piece is more aligned with how we usually think of Van Gogh. It is a darker piece. The burdens Van Gogh is carrying and the cut across his body seem to portend his death by suicide. These are effective techniques to tell us something about the subject, but also about the artist. If Catalano relates to Van Gogh’s trials, he has done a great job of telling us.

I am most moved by the Catalano piece. What about you? Whichever piece you prefer, we are fortunate to have these important artworks in the city. It’s even better that they are just an easy jog apart.

Seeing Double?

Yesterday’s run along the Bow River was nice, but for the ice. And the wind. Otherwise, it was perfect! Good company, bright sunshine, and lots of runners out. Thanks, Deb and Sherrey for getting me to 13k, which was more than I expected to do.

Given the conditions, we decided to head east from Eau Claire. Better to warm up a bit before facing the breeze. We reached the 12th St bridge in Inglewood before turning around, 3k into our run. Even after so many years, passing the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers always feels special to me.

Our crossing point happens to be the location of a unique statue. Or maybe not so unique. But more on that shortly.

The statue I’m referring to is called Wolfe and the Sparrows. It was sculpted in bronze by Brandon Vickerd in 2019. Vickerd is a Hamilton-based artist and professor at York University.

General Wolfe was the commander of the British forces at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham. He led the British to a rather important victory there in 1759.

As I stepped carefully around the statue… that ice!… I stopped to admire it for a few seconds. I wondered what Vickerd had in mind when he replaced Wolfe’s upper body with a flock of sparrows.

Later, I read the city’s description of the statue, which states that the community wanted something “critical, challenging and funny”. I think Vickerd succeeded with this piece.

According to his bio, Vickerd seeks to “provoke the viewer into questioning the dominate myth of progress ingrained in Western world views.” His Wolfe statue touches on themes of indigenous reconciliation, so maybe he hit the mark there too.

Why? Apparently, in many cultures and religions, sparrows represent good fortune, happiness, and resilience. They are non-native birds in North America, which makes them a good choice for a piece meant to convey the importance of reconciliation.

I like Vickerd’s statue a lot. I decided that whatever he intended, it works as a thought-provoking piece of public art.

Back to our run. Continuing west along the river past 14 St, we saw many familiar faces, including some quick runners in RunCalgary‘s 12k’s of Christmas. Well done, Reinier and Mel, Matt and Jeremy!

It was a quick pace at the front of the pack

Now, what about my comment about the uniqueness of the Wolfe statue?

On the drive home, I asked Deb to make a slight detour so we could stop at Calgary’s “other” Wolfe statue. Appropriately, this one sits in Wolfe Park in Mount Royal.

This bronze statue by Scottish sculptor John Massey Rhind was completed in 1898. It was originally located in New York City and was sold to Calgary philanthropist Eric Harvie in 1966. The statue was donated as a public art piece in 2009.

You’d have to call this version of Wolfe a traditional rendering. It shows the general looking off into the distance as if contemplating the battle to come. (By the way, Wolfe didn’t survive it.)

I like this statue too, and I’ve photographed it often. It certainly is a worthy addition to the neighbourhood. I try capturing it in different lighting conditions, as it seems to change the expression on Wolfe’s face.

From chest level down, these two statues are identical. Vickerd chose to do this. Was it homage to Rhind’s statue? Maybe. We are left to wonder what message he was sending by adding the swallows. For me, while the original statue is handsome, it can’t match Vickerd’s version as a provocative piece of art.

In closing, we’re fortunate to have two very different Wolfe statues in Calgary. Both are impressive pieces, in their own way.

Downtown Wildlife “Photo Run”

A reminder that Stroke of Luck is now available. Click here for details.

I often feel that I’m rewarded with photo opportunities as long as I have a camera close to hand. Last week I made a rare trip into downtown. It was a day after the first blast of winter in Alberta. The snow was still falling.

I’d walked by the Harley Hotchkiss Plaza next to the courthouse many times, and I’ve always admired the Joe Fafard sculpture (Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do). It is a special installation… large, dynamic and colourful.

Fafard (1942-2019) is known for his large sculptures, which often feature animals and play with perspective. Many of his works are humorous and they always show his keen wit.

Fafard produced the eight horses that comprise this work from powder-coated 5/8” steel plate in 2010. There is a duplicate of the piece installed in le parc Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde in Quebec City. Apparently, Fafard used laser-cut steel pieces salvaged from his other works to create the horses. Up close or at a distance, they are fantastic.

I’ve taken pictures of Fafard’s sculpture a few times, but each time I found the size and breadth of the piece (not to mention an often busy background) made it hard to photograph. On this day, though, the snowy scene was a perfect monochromatic backdrop. I stopped for a few shots with my Ricoh GR III.

When I edited my photo, I made use of the latest masking features in Lightroom. Adobe says these are based on AI. Whatever they did, they made the process quite intuitive. It saved me a lot of time in this case, because I visualized the photo with the intricate figures separated from the background. To make the horses stand out even more, I reduced the saturation in the background.

Here is the result. I hope you like it. (Yes, it is a slight cheat, but I figure that since the horses are running, I can officially call this session a “photo run”.)

*Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol, La, Si, Do* by Joe Fafard (2010)

A little further north on 4th Street, I stopped again. This time, it was to admire the massive mural of a peregrine falcon on the south side of the building at 441 5th Avenue SW. The piece is by Jerry Rugg, who is known in the world of muralism as birdO. Rugg is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. His beautiful mural was done for the Beltline Urban Mural Project (BUMP) in 2021.

birdO works on canvas, in digital print, and installation, but he may be best known for his large-scale mural work on walls and buildings around the world. This is a great example. I love this piece, and I especially like the way it brightened up an otherwise cold, grey day.

As in the previous photo, I toned down the saturation in the background, which was admittedly already desaturated. This let the brilliant colours in birdO’s mural shine.

Peregrine Falcon, BUMP mural by birdO (2021)

Speaking of Joe Fafard, I can’t resist including a closing word about him. There are several impressive Fafard pieces around Calgary. My favourite is Van Gogh Observes, a monumental piece which can be found outside Masters Gallery on 4th Street SW in Mission. According to the gallery’s description, it is one of Fafard’s largest pieces.

This shot is from my archives. I was lucky to capture Van Gogh, apparently engaged in conversation with a passing couple in 2020.

*Van Gogh Observes* by Joe Fafard (2018)

Leicaphilia Loses its Creative Force

Tim Vanderweert passed away in early January. I need to say a few words about him, and the impact he had on me. In this digital world, it seems a stretch to say Tim was a friend because I never met him. I only knew him through his online presence and a bit of interaction we had through his blog, Leicaphilia. One thing is certain – I wasn’t the only person who was influenced by Tim.

It’s funny how things go sometimes. About five years ago, I was putting my life back together after a medical episode that left me wondering what my future would look like. Competitive running, which had been a constant presence in my life for more than four decades, looked like it might be taken away forever. I wasn’t sure I could cope with that prospect.

I had always had a passing interest in photography, but to be fair, it had never gone beyond a teenager’s early fascination with the gear and amateurish attempts to emulate the great landscape photographer, Ansel Adams. Boxes of family snapshots, as great as they are, attest to the fact that I focused more on quantity than quality. And that was fine, as I had limited time for hobbies, for all the usual reasons.

Fast forward to 2017. Adrift after a lengthy hospital stay and amid much uncertainty, I picked up my old Canon AT-1–that’s a totally manual film camera by the way–and started carrying it with me on my slow recovery walks around the neighbourhood. For years, I had cruised through the same streets at a faster pace – apparently fast enough that I hadn’t seen things that were right in front of my eyes.

My interest in photography was being rekindled but I was rusty. So rusty that I had missed the whole transition to digital photography, which had made film cameras obsolete. At least that was the conventional wisdom.

And then I discovered Leicaphilia, and its creative force, Tim vdW. Here was a guy, about my age, who had dedicated as much of his life and energy to photography – Leica-based film photography no less – as I had dedicated to competitive running. Different hobby, same passion. I liked him immediately.

The more I delved into Tim’s writing and creative output, the more our connection grew. I especially liked the fact that he steadfastly defended the turf of film photography against the onslaught of digital. Pixels didn’t matter an iota to him. It was more about the emotional impact, the art, than about the technical features of the latest camera. And on that point, Tim had the knowledge (and the courage) to state his views and share his thoughts. He wrote eloquently about the philosophical underpinnings of photography, about topics like aesthetics. His knowledge spanned centuries.

I had never read articles that tied the Greek philosophers to this hobby. But as a returning student, I was more than willing to learn. His lucid posts entertained me (and his other devotees) while they educated me, complete with photographs from his archives and his bike rides around North Carolina. He put together a book of his photographs taken from inside cars – it was called Car Sick – and I bought not one but two copies. (You see, he had made it abundantly clear to his readers that he had lost his shirt on the production of the book. I wanted him to keep going.)

When Tim announced to his readers that he had cancer, we all held our breaths. It looked bad. For a time, he stopped posting. Eventually, he informed us that he was in hospice care, with only a few days to live. Except he didn’t die. He got better, at least for a while.

In the last few months of his life, he gifted his anxious audience with constant posts, full of clear writing about his situation, and yes, some excellent photography. With a creative flourish, he turned his attention to developing the hundreds of rolls of film that had accumulated in his house. He even put together an exhibition of his life’s work.

And now he is gone. Tim showed us all how we might try to face the grim prospect of our own impending death, with grace and purpose, and good humour. As we go through the ups and downs of our own lives, we should all hope to have as much positive impact on those around us.

My first reaction to the news of his passing was to load a roll of his favourite film (Kodak Tri-X) into my Leica M6 and shoot some street photographs, hoping for his spirit to walk with me as my muse.

Tim will be missed.