{"object":[{"sourceId":{"label":"Source ID","value":"7814"},"subclassification":{"label":"Sub-classification","value":"Canadian"},"creditline":{"label":"Credit Line","value":"Commissioned for the Gardiner Museum to celebrate Canada's Sesquicentennial in 2017. Artwork Commissioned by La Fondation Emmanuelle GattusoProject Supported by the City of Toronto"},"invno":{"label":"Object number","value":"G18.3.1"},"description":{"label":"Description","value":"Artist StatementMy public sculpture on the front grounds of the Gardiner Museum celebrates our human connection to clay. Standing guard as a ceramic museum mascot, Cracked Wheat embodies history on legs.In consideration of the universal role of ceramics in the human story, I believe a new work of public art at the Gardiner Museum should honour the primary symbol of the functional vessel. Pottery was the first synthetic material created by humans, and our strong relationship to its inherent functionality continues today. Although we now live in an age of industrialized production, the potter\u2019s wheel and the mark of an individual\u2019s hand cannot be divided from the material. Clay has also been rediscovered by a new generation of contemporary artists, and with them, a new audience and artistic relevance has followed. Cracked Wheat embraces the contemporary, historical, and domestic possibilities of the medium.Standing on an 18-inch granite pedestal, the sculpture tilts provocatively towards the viewer and the street, with a friendly nod towards the Gardiner\u2019s front doors. The sightline of the sculpture matches Jun Kaneko\u2019s plinth, to create a visual symmetry flanking the grounds. As stage-left of the Gardiner is anchored by Kaneko\u2019s \u2018head\u2019, stage right is balanced by a clay \u2018body\u2019.In silhouette Cracked Wheat suggests a voluptuous cartoon figure, a vertical yet curvy Yin to the squat, masculine Yang of Kaneko\u2019s sculpture. Reminiscent of early Renaissance alchemical drawings, the vase (or flask) nods to the experimental chemistry of ceramics, as well as the surrealist distortions of perspective that could result from consuming its contents. Balancing on human legs, it\u2019s uncertain whether the vessel is a costume or a character compound.Consisting of a 7-foot-tall smashed and restored vase, the painstakingly reassembled pieces reference ancient pottery shards of archeological digs. Like Humpty-Dumpty, its re-combined elements remind us of the extraordinary care taken to preserve an exceptional museum collection of such inherent fragility. The materials and form evoke transformation and alchemy, re-envisioning damaged goods as playful treasure.Mounted on larger-than\u2010life childlike legs, the polished bronze and white clay of Cracked Wheat references the 18th-century European decorative tradition of ormolu. A map of gold painted cracks between its 220 unique porcelain shards pays homage to the reinvigorated 16th-century Japanese tradition of Kintsugi, which celebrates breakage, and repair, as part of an object\u2019s history.Public sculpture should consider site and architecture, but most importantly, generously reflect the public it serves. Ceramics are found in every world culture, within traditions as diverse as the citizens of Toronto. My sculpture is decorated with a vintage \u201cCanadian Wheat\u201d pattern, internationally mass-produced in the 1960\u2019s for common, affordable tableware. The relationship between ceramics and food is symbiotic, from ancient pots to a favourite mug. Alongside rice, wheat is the world\u2019s major staple food.With its broken Canadiana and visible attempts at restoration, Cracked Wheat dares us to confront our complicated relationship to vulnerability, value, and our colonial status. It embodies a hybrid of cultural and ceramic references, iconic simplicity of form and welcoming accessibility: to delight and challenge children, art novices and insiders alike."},"medium":{"label":"Medium","value":"Stoneware, steel, fiberglass, resin, foam, bronze"},"onview":{"label":"On View","value":"1"},"media":{"label":"Media","value":[{"mediaRenditionNumber":"G18.3.1","publicAccess":"true","mediaImageURL":"https://emuseum.gardinermuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/23796/full","rank":"0","pixelHeight":"6720","mediaCaption":"Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid","pixelWidth":"4480","mediaID":"23796"},{"mediaRenditionNumber":"G18.3.1 detail","publicAccess":"true","mediaImageURL":"https://emuseum.gardinermuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/23797/full","rank":"0","pixelHeight":"6720","mediaCaption":"Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid","pixelWidth":"4480","mediaID":"23797"},{"mediaRenditionNumber":"G18.3.1 view 2","publicAccess":"true","mediaImageURL":"https://emuseum.gardinermuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/23798/full","rank":"0","pixelHeight":"5989","mediaCaption":"Photographer: Toni Hafkenscheid","pixelWidth":"4149","mediaID":"23798"}]},"title":{"label":"Title","value":"Cracked Wheat"},"classification":{"label":"Classifications","value":"Modern and Contemporary Ceramics"},"people":{"label":"Artist / Maker","value":"Shary Boyle"},"rels":{"label":"Relations","value":"[]"},"subclassification2":{"label":"Sub-classification 2","value":""},"primaryMedia":{"value":"https://emuseum.gardinermuseum.com/internal/media/dispatcher/23796/full"},"subclassification3":{"label":"Sub-classification 3","value":""},"collections":{"label":"Collections","value":["Modern and Contemporary Ceramics","2018-2019 New Acquisitions","Modern and Contemporary - Canadian","Public Art"]},"culture":{"label":"Culture","value":"Canadian"},"displayDate":{"label":"Date","value":"2018"},"id":{"label":"Id","value":"181024"},"dimensions":{"label":"Dimensions","value":"Overall (Sculpture and Base): 2.74 × 1.63 × 1.63m (9 × 5.33 × 5.33ft)"}}]}