SHELF

CHRIS BOYNE

On View: April 28 - June 3, 2022

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“white nances, is a collection of nine thickly glazed porcelain container ships and bulk carriers—forms I have returned to over and over in my practice. The work is connected to a variety of experiences around ships and the maritime industry including crossing the Pacific Ocean aboard the container ship Hanjin Geneva, visiting the largest ship recycling facility in Canada, crossing the Atlantic Ocean on the roll-on roll-off container ship Atlantic Sky and traveling to the shipbreaking beaches of Alang, India. The work is also connected to growing up next to a working harbour (Halifax) where I saw ships navigating the approaches, passing under the harbour bridges, coming through the narrows and off-loading at Ceres or Halterm. I was always interested in the ships—the Maersks, ACLs, ZIMs, Hapags, CMA CGMs, Wilhelmsens—where they came from and where they were going, the flag countries/countries of ownership and the cargo they carried. I was also focused on the form of the ships themselves—the hull lines, trapezoidal funnel stacks, ever-narrowing super structures, colours, ‘liveries’, cryptic markings and deck fixtures—all of it fascinated me. With white nances, I explore the most basic forms from memory.

white nance follows a colourful naming convention within my practice: black nance, periwinkle blues, Diamond Blues, Hard Black Stinker and now white nance one through white nance nine.” - CB

Chris Boyne (b. 1984. Halifax, Nova Scotia) is an interdisciplinary artist who uses task-based approaches to explore ideas and create conceptual content connected to reminiscence, maritime systems and semiotics and the rhythms and traces of transportation and commerce. He is most interested in generative approaches and his studio practice involves the fabrication and manipulation of objects, photography, drawing and writing. He holds a BFA from Ryerson University and an MFA from Concordia University and has received grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec. He currently lives and works in Montréal.