John Lucas | Caryatids After Storm

Opening Reception: Saturday, March 9, 2-5pm, Artist will be in attendance

Exhibition Dates: March 9 - March 30, 2019

Stephen Bulger Gallery is pleased to present its third exhibition of work by John Lucas, entitled “Caryatids After Storm” in the Reading Room.

In regard to this series, Lucas said:

I call it the Chateau. Construction began in the first decade of the 21st century. The house stands on high ground, massive, rectangular and conspicuous among Quebec’s hills and farms. It was the “Grecian” statues that drew my attention - a prolific community of marble effigies overlooking acreage of lawn that sloped towards a distant road where cars glided silently to the South.

The estate is tended by the Owner, an enigmatic man of few words. Little is known about him. No gossip of significance among the villagers who occasionally come to pay their respects at the cemetery across the lane, throwing bewildered glances towards the Chateau as they place flowers on tombstones. When I approached the Owner, camera in hand, he tacitly accepted my intrusion as some kind of arms-length arrangement, little asked and little told. I returned again and again, running between the Chateau and my computer, and as I did so the images of statues transformed - a fantasy unfolded. I began to wonder if perhaps I was mirroring the Owner’s dream - his passionate devotion to exalting past splendour.

Born in London, England in 1942, Lucas studied physics at Bristol and Sussex Universities in the United Kingdom. He subsequently received a doctorate in materials science. While engaged in his doctoral research John practised photography and was invited to exhibit at Sussex University’s Arts Centre, hitherto the exclusive domain of established artists.

In 1970 Lucas left England for Canada where he became a scientist and inventor for the telecommunications and resource industries. He continued to practise photography and focused on documenting the life around him and while travelling in Europe, Turkey, and Morocco. Lucas’ work has been exhibited in several solo and group exhibitions. His photography has taken him from factories in his home city of Montreal to snooker halls in Asia.