Atrium, Main Level
The shapes of feathers, wings, flowers and leaves combine in a constellation of ceramic and bronze to comprise Forever (Bird Botanicals), a site-specific installation by Ecuadorian-Canadian sculptor David Constantino Salazar. The work combines recognizable bird anatomy with plant forms to probe the theme of transformation in contemporary culture in contemporary culture.
Often representative of freedom, love, peace, and divinity, the symbol of the bird is ripe with meaning. In South American folklore, for example, birds and other animals are evocative of transformation, often shapeshifting between forms in fables. In Museum London’s Atrium, Salazar’s birds are in a state of transition, too, as if between life and death. Here, botanicals grow around misshapen appendages.
To create each element of the work, the artist meticulously hand crafts birds out of clay and throws them against his studio wall. Radically altering their appearance, this act transforms each sculpture into something new entirely. Each component evokes the natural evolution of all living things, as we journey between one state of being to another.
About the Artist:
David Constantino Salazar is a Toronto-based, Ecuadorian-Canadian sculptor whose practice focuses on clay hand modelling and casting in bronze, ceramic, and resin. He represented Canada at the International Biennial of Asuncion (Paraguay), and completed the Studio Research Residency in Tiradentes, Brazil. Salazar’s public commissions have appeared in Carnaval, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Nuit Blanche, Toronto.
Image: Forever (Bird Botanicals), Installation view (detail), Gardiner Museum, Toronto, 2021. Photo: Toni Hafkenscheid