Artist’s Statement

I am a cross-disciplinary artist who works with industrial materials and digital media to create public art and media installations. My projects are designed for built environments, and invite viewers to interact with site-specific installations in settings not usually designated for artwork. I combine sculpture, drawing, installation, and digital media to develop three interests: the influence that biological organisms and human technologies have on the visual expression of thoughts, emotions and written language into art; the workings of the human senses, particularly sight, hearing, and touch; and the development of large-scale sculpture for installation in unconventional environments.

My interest in human perception is coupled with my research on the links between the biological structures of our evolutionary predecessors and the forms and functions of contemporary technology. In 2005 my study of the relationship between paleontology and sculpture led me to create Petriflight, a sculpture of a full-scale helicopter made from carved dinosaur bones. The piece fuses the remains of an ancient world with a contemporary flying machine in order to offer an alternative reconstitution of the archeological fragment. While paleontologists piece together a body and theorize a way of life from bones and fossils, Petriflight moves from the forensic to the fantastic as an alternative representation of human technologies. While reflecting on our civilizations’ relationship to pre-human histories and contemporary technologies I developed works that explored our perceptual senses. My sculptures of the human senses emphasize their biological forms, while altering the perceptual ability of seeing, hearing, and touching through media technologies and strategic installations.

I am currently exploring relationships that micro-organisms, language, and technology have to sculpture and digital media. I am producing artwork that explores the impact of technologies on the culture of human invention by looking at pre-human history and by studying writing systems. I am interested in how current relationships to sculptural objects and to the obsolescence of media technologies change as representation becomes increasingly portable, less physically tangible, and less durable. I have been exploring various roles that public sculpture play as a purveyor of thoughts and emotions reflected by our current technological climate.

A second path of inquiry traces technology within the context of writing systems that have developed through human civilizations and are now merging into digital technologies that rely on a number of layers of sensory perception. I am integrating written languages both as an expression of human experience and as a series of sculptural elements in public contexts. I am creating sculptures that depict language and ideas that respond to the characteristics and history of the environments in which they are installed. The form of this body of work and its core subject, written language, is an evolution of concepts that I started to explore in my pieces Arrest, Table Talk, and The Book. I am continuing to make sculptures that use the characteristics of written language, such as book forms, codes, and type to investigate the phenomena of printed or written language. The goal is to merge sculptural forms with linguistic forms in order to extend the relationships between the physical experience of seeing language sculpturally while reading.

In my research on the senses and specifically touch I am translating various tactile sensations into sound, video and sculptural installations. Through the use of digital media I am exploring whether the personal experience of being physically touched can be transformed into sculptural objects that lead to a deeper understanding of the subjective sensation. My sculptures of a 6-foot finger and a 12-foot hand that reverberates with the sounds of touch receptors firing, depict the less tangible notions of touch and allow me to traverse the field of sensory perception. The hand and finger were preceded by the Roaming Eyeball, which has rolled through several cities videotaping its path and An Ear to the Sky, which has floated in three harbours and most recently been installed on an exterior wall of a gallery recording sounds in its vicinity. After completing aural and visual pieces that were large relative to the body but diminished by the natural environments they moved in, I began to turn my attention to the more subjective and deeply internal sense of touch. The exaggerated size of the twelve-foot hand and six-foot finger magnifies their ability to meet and intercede in the world, reflecting what I believe to be the true scale of their roles as the carriers of sensory messages and the agents of human will.

Currently I am in the process of building a large artwork called What's Your Name? for the Toronto District School Board. Marking the rebuilding of one of Toronto's oldest high-schools, this piece is a 12' high stainless steel sculpture made from plates shaped like paper. One sheaf of paper shows the first names of students who have attended the school since 1912, and the other sheaf is made up of a pattern of signatures from past and present students. I designed the sculpture to use light as a sculptural form within the cavities of the stainless steel sculpture, allowing the water-jetted names and signatures to glow at night from within.

Biography

Ilan Sandler has shown his sculptures, installations, and videos internationally and across Canada and has completed public art commissions in Toronto, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Busan, South Korea. His most recent permanent public sculpture: A Departure was installed in Lethbridge in October 2009. He is also currently producing two large public art works: The Vessel for the City of Toronto and What's Your Name? for North Toronto Collegiate Institute. He has received numerous awards, including grants from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Nova Scotia Department of Culture.

Born in Johannesburg (South Africa) in 1971, Ilan Sandler and his family immigrated to Toronto six years later, in 1977. Ilan studied at the University of Toronto, where he received a B.Sc. in Physics, and at the Ontario College of Art and Design, where he completed an Honours Fine Arts certificate. In 2000 he was awarded an MFA from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Ilan then went on to teach at the University of the Arts and Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, and most recently at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. He is currently running Sandler Studio Inc. in Halifax, Nova Scotia. He is also a Research Fellow at NSCAD University.

Education

• M.F.A., Digital Media and Sculpture/Installation, 2000
• Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
• A.O.C.A.D., 4 year Honors Fine Arts, 1997
• Ontario College of Art and Design
• B.Sc. Physics 1994
• University of Toronto

Awards

• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Standard Research Grant: Fine Arts Research/Creation 2007–2010.
• Lethbridge Centennial Bridge Public Art Commission, Lethbridge 2009.
• Taddle Creek Toronto City Parks Public Art Commission 2008.
• The Republic North Toronto Collegiate Institute Public Art Commission 2008.
• Nova Scotia Culture and Heritage Grants to Artists 2005, 2007, 2009.
• Canada Council Creations/Productions Grant: Visual Arts, 2003.
• First Prize, Philadelphia Sculptors Society, 5 into 1 Exhibition 2000.
• Penna. Academy of the Fine Arts Master’s Tuition Scholarship, 1998–2000.
• Ontario College of Art and Design, Award for media studies, 1996.

Selected Bibliography and Reviews

• Jung, Hyung Tak. Avant Garden Busan Biennale Sculpture Project Catalogue, 2008.
• Goddard, Peter. “ArtStage project.” The Toronto Star, October 21, 2006.
• Kelly, Dierdre. “Now-Open: Drive by Gallery.” The Globe and Mail, October 14, 2006.
• Metcalfe, Robin. “Sense Impressions.” Three Senses Catalogue, 2005.
• McElroy, Gil. “Double Storey.” Espace Magazine, Winter 2003.
• McElroy, Gil. “Double Storey.” Art Papers, Nov 2003.
• Walker, Susan. “Double Storey.” The Toronto Star, June 7, 2003.
• Legge, Elizabeth. “Double Storey.” TSG May, 2003.
• Seidel, Miriam. “Arrest.” January, 2003.
• Public Art Review. “Pulse.” November, 2002.
• Suh, Sangsuk. “Arrest.” Woganmissol Korean Arts Magazine, September, 2001.
• Hagen, Susan. “Solitary Assignment.” Philadelphia City Paper, August 30, 2001.
• Sozanski, Edward J. “Crime and Punishment.” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 10, 2001.
• Clowney, Peter. “Arrest.” WHYY Radio, July 2001
• Fallon, Roberta. “Arresting Art.” Philadelphia Weekly, May 2001.
• Weisner, Jeff. “On A Role, Peddling Ideas.” Philadelphia City Paper, September, 2000.
• Darr, Jennifer. “Going Once Going Twice.” Philadelphia Weekly, November, 1999.

Solo Exhibitions

• 2006, The Book, public art installation, Artstage, Toronto, ON.
• 2005, Three Senses, St. Mary’s University Art Gallery, Halifax NS.
• 2005, Petriflight, Vertex List, Williamsberg, NY.
• 2003, An Ear To The Sky, Halifax Harbour, Halifax NS.
• 2003, Double Storey, Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto ON.
• 2002–2003, Pulse, outdoor public installation, Arts in Transit, St. Louis MO.
• 2001–2003, Arrest, audio installation, Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia PA.
• 2000, Tour of the Portable Modular Staircase, Philadelphia PA.
• 2000, Peddling ideas, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia PA.
• 1999, Sighting the Sight, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia, PA.
• 1998, Grates, Grids, Grottos, Penna Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA.

Group Exhibitions

• 2008, “Busan Bienalle.” Busan, South Korea.
• 2008, “.txt.” Anna Leonowens Gallery, Halifax NS.
• 2004, “Foreign/Domestic.” ArtSpace, New Haven CT.
• 2003, “Probing The Distance.” CAFKA, Kitchener ON.
• 2003, “D.U.M.B.O..” Art Under The Bridge Festival, Brooklyn NY.
• 2003, “Encodings.” Cummings Gallery, New London CT.
• 2003, “The Seat of the Imagination”, Abbington Art Center, Philadelphia PA.
• 2002, “One Sky Above.” The Burnished Chariot, New London CT.
• 2002, “D.U.M.B.O..” Art Under The Bridge Festival, Brooklyn NY.
• 2002, “Speak.” In-Liquid at the Painted Bride, Philadelphia PA. 2001 Flight, Abington Art Center, Philadelphia PA.
• 2001, “Demolition.” Rosenwald Wolff Gallery, Univ. Of the Arts, Philadelphia PA.
• 2001, “Faculty Exhibition.” Moore Galleries, Philadelphia PA.
• 2000, “MFA Exhibition.” Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA.
• 2000, “5 into 1.” Philadelphia Sculptors, Pennsylvania CC., Philadelphia PA.
• 1999, “Sold Out.” Freeman's Auction House, Philadelphia, PA.
• 1998, “Eklektika.” Side Show Gallery, Brooklyn, PA.
• 1998, “Eklektika.” White Box Gallery, Philadelphia, PA.

Lectures and Symposiums

• 2009 Southern Alberta Art Gallery: Public Lecture on A Departure, Lethbridge AB.
• 2009 Art Gallery of Nova Scotia: Public Art Symposium, Halifax NS.
• 2008 Canadian Association of Fine Arts Deans Annual Conference Dalhousie University, Halifax NS.
• 2008, NSCAD University Symposium: Obsolescence and the Culture of Human Invention, Halifax, NS.
• 2007, York University Department of Fine Arts, Toronto, ON.
• 2005, St. Mary’s University Art Gallery, Halifax, NS.
• 2004, Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University, Halifax, NS.
• 2003, Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener ON.
• 2003, The Ninth Biennial Symposium on Art and Technology, Ammerman Centre, Connecticut College, New London, CT.
• 2002, Connecticut College, New London CT.
• 2001, Moore College of Art and Design, Philadelphia PA.

Commissions

• 2009, A Departure Lethbridge Centennial Bridge, Lethbridge AB.
• 2009, What's Your Name? The Republic, North Toronto Collegiate Institute, Toronto ON.
• 2008, The Vessel, Taddle Creek Park, Toronto ON.
• 2006, The Book Artstage, Toronto ON.
• 2003, Double Storey Toronto Sculpture Garden, Toronto ON.
• 2002, Pulse Arts in Transit public art commission, St. Louis Mo.
• 1999, Hand forged steel text for Xu Bing, Anima, Animal, Animus PS1 Queens NY. 1999 Outdoor Steel and Stone Sculpture, M. Shrestha, Philadelphia PA.

Videography

• 2003, Probing The Distance, The Roaming Eyeball, CAFKA, Kitchener ON.
• 2003, Encodings, The Roaming Eyeball, Cummings Gallery New London CT.
• 2000, Interment, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Philadelphia PA.
• 1999, Sighting The Sight, Philadelphia Fringe Festival, Philadelphia PA.
• 1998, The Street, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, Hamilton Auditorium, Philadelphia PA.