Reception: Saturday, September 14, 2-5pm
Exhibition Dates: September 14 – October 19, 2024
Stephen Bulger Gallery is pleased to present Hank Bull’s Natural Language, on display in our Reading Room Gallery from Saturday, September 14 to Saturday, October 12. Natural Language is the launch of two new projects, a suite of photographs and a limited-edition print work.
In Book Series, pieces of scrap lumber are made to resemble books and photographed against a neutral background. Devoid of text, these “books” are nevertheless open to interpretation. Their titles refer to history, architecture, law, learning and so on. They are arranged or stacked in ways that also suggest buildings, towers, temples or monuments, all while retaining their identity as blocks of wood. As images for contemplation, these photographs play somewhere between representation, abstraction and their own objecthood. Books are, after all, made of wood.
Natural Language is a box of twenty-six postcards, one for each letter of the alphabet. The letters were found inscribed in the branches of trees in the forest. It took years of intermittent searching to find and photograph all twenty-six. The letters were then edited in Photoshop. Each card has a short text on the back. They can be used to make words or poems, play games, and tell fortunes.
Both projects were initiated on the swiya territory of the shíshálh First Nation.
Bull’s work has been included in the Venice Biennale and Documenta and can be found in museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada, the MoMA, Confederation Centre Art Gallery, the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal and Ludwig Museum.
