Transcendental artifacts

Opening February 10, Elemental: Ethereal is the first of four exhibitions featuring the work of Tim Whiten as part of a multi-venue collaborative project among the McMaster Museum of Art (MMA), Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Art Gallery of Peterborough, and the Art Gallery at York University. An expansive undertaking, each exhibition will thematically address Whiten’s work regarding one of the four classical elements: air, water, fire and earth. 

American-born and Toronto-based, Whiten’s first solo exhibition in 1962 set in motion a renowned career marked with prolific creative output. In nearly five decades of production, Whiten has conjured a vast visual language uniquely his own – placed decidedly outside of conventional art historical discourse and categorization. Better thought of as an “image-maker of cultural objects” rather than an artist, he works across media from “two and three-dimensional forms, site-specific works, ritual performances, and mixed-media installations”. Whiten is concerned with the metaphysical, prompting audiences to explore the depths of spirituality, the nature of consciousness and ancestral knowledge.

Reliquaire, (I) (2012). Handcrafted crystal clear glass, human skull, gold leaf. 18-1/2 x 16 x 12 inches. Courtesy of Tim Whiten and Olga Korper Gallery. Photo Credit: Michael Cullen.

Situated on the MMA’s fourth floor across the Levy and Tomlinson galleries, Elemental: Ethereal draws on aspects of the air element – its celestial and ephemeral qualities – with select three-dimensional works from the late 1970s onward. These works mediate on transcendence and transformative states of being, highlighting Whiten’s masterful use of organic materials including, but not limited to, wood, bone, hair and leather. His well-known use of glass is also included, with works such as the more recent Book of Light: Containing Poetry from the Heart of God (2015-2016) (image above and below). Handcrafted crystal-clear glass lends itself well to Book of Light, imbued with its luminosity, fragility and preciousness, perhaps a reference to the holiness and sanctity found in the burnt drawing fragments carefully laid in its interior. 

Book of Light: Containing Poetry from the Heart of God (2015-2016). Handcrafted crystal clear glass, burnt fragments of drawings (coffee and pencil on handmade paper), oak. 118.1 H/L x 71.1 W x 38.1 D cm. Courtesy of Tim Whiten and Olga Korper Gallery. Photo Credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.

For Whiten, meaning is derived beyond the limitations of words and his work is best experienced in-person – inviting museum-goers into an embodied experience often relayed as ‘sensing’ over ‘reading’. “This exhibition,” explains MMA Senior Curator Pamela Edmonds in a press statement, “offers a space for reflection through Whiten’s deep understanding of the connections between material transformation and the human condition.”

Hallelujah II (2015). Handcrafted crystal clear glass, lilac branches, brass fitting. 60 H x W 84 W x 19 inches D. Courtesy of Tim Whiten and Olga Korper Gallery. Photo Credit: Toni Hafkenscheid.

Elemental: Ethereal is on view at the McMaster Museum of Art through May 14, 2022, with three more exhibitions to follow later in 2022 and 2023 at other partner venues. The Robert McLaughlin Gallery exhibition entitled Elemental: Oceanic opens April 9 and runs through August 28, 2022.

The AGO Collection is one of several public collections that hold works made by Whiten. In case you missed it, in 2020, Whiten was joined by Georgiana Uhlyarik, AGO Fredrik S. Eaton Curator, Canadian Art, and Sherry Phillips, AGO Conservator, Contemporary and Inuit Art Collections, to discuss his practice and work Metamorphosis (1978-1989). Watch their conversation here and stay tuned for more stories from the AGO and beyond.