Mike Kammerer
biography |
portfolio | artists listing
b. 1970, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010 Turned & Sculptured Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Olympic Group Exhibition, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2009 East Side Culture Crawl, Studio Open House Event, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Solo Exhibition, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2006 Showcase for the Visual Arts, Cambridge House International, Vancouver, BC, Canada
East Side Culture Crawl, Studio Open House Event, Vancouver, BC, Canada
A Bone, A Dream and the Skin in Between, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2005 Monsters and Robots, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My artwork lies at the intersection of many different interests for me. I like thinking about music in terms of color and form, and I like thinking about biology and evolution in terms of music. I like structures, the unseen parts, the insides of things. The layers of rock as pages of a book. I like many parts relating to each other in specific ways to make up a whole.
I enjoy creating geometry problems for myself to solve (the solution being the sculpture). I enjoy working with engineered woods … the tension between the geometric rigor of the laminations and the soft, natural quality of the wood, and how this relationship expresses itself within varying shapes, is something I find endlessly fascinating.
I have always been interested in origins… origins of life, origins of species, origins of culture, language, origins of rocks and landscape… the internal workings of things, … change,… growth and decline over the vastness of time, how things respond to external forces, and how they retain evidence of a forgotten past. So much of what we accept as being immutable and enduring, if you step far enough away, are really just brief moments along a broad trajectory of continual alteration. I like creating artwork that has something of this changeable, living quality, and I like feeling this connection with the larger fabric of the past, and considering how we identify ourselves in light of the temporary nature of things versus the sheer vastness of time.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mike is a sculptor based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He works primarily with laminated woods, often incorporating paint, rice paper, and light, to create structured, fossil-like forms and luminous internal spaces. He has been experimenting with wood and showing his work in galleries in the Vancouver region since 2002. A strong response has led him to devote several months a year to creating his pieces.
His academic background is in geology, and he has a deep passion for natural history and for exploring the wilderness. He spends his summers working as a grassroots mineral prospector in northern Canada, hiking and mapping in the remote mountain ranges of the Yukon. His love for earth science and the natural world are of primary inspiration to his artistic work.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2010 Turned & Sculptured Wood, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Olympic Group Exhibition, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2009 East Side Culture Crawl, Studio Open House Event, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Solo Exhibition, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2006 Showcase for the Visual Arts, Cambridge House International, Vancouver, BC, Canada
East Side Culture Crawl, Studio Open House Event, Vancouver, BC, Canada
A Bone, A Dream and the Skin in Between, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
2005 Monsters and Robots, The Ayden Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Canada
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
My artwork lies at the intersection of many different interests for me. I like thinking about music in terms of color and form, and I like thinking about biology and evolution in terms of music. I like structures, the unseen parts, the insides of things. The layers of rock as pages of a book. I like many parts relating to each other in specific ways to make up a whole.
I enjoy creating geometry problems for myself to solve (the solution being the sculpture). I enjoy working with engineered woods … the tension between the geometric rigor of the laminations and the soft, natural quality of the wood, and how this relationship expresses itself within varying shapes, is something I find endlessly fascinating.
I have always been interested in origins… origins of life, origins of species, origins of culture, language, origins of rocks and landscape… the internal workings of things, … change,… growth and decline over the vastness of time, how things respond to external forces, and how they retain evidence of a forgotten past. So much of what we accept as being immutable and enduring, if you step far enough away, are really just brief moments along a broad trajectory of continual alteration. I like creating artwork that has something of this changeable, living quality, and I like feeling this connection with the larger fabric of the past, and considering how we identify ourselves in light of the temporary nature of things versus the sheer vastness of time.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Mike is a sculptor based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He works primarily with laminated woods, often incorporating paint, rice paper, and light, to create structured, fossil-like forms and luminous internal spaces. He has been experimenting with wood and showing his work in galleries in the Vancouver region since 2002. A strong response has led him to devote several months a year to creating his pieces.
His academic background is in geology, and he has a deep passion for natural history and for exploring the wilderness. He spends his summers working as a grassroots mineral prospector in northern Canada, hiking and mapping in the remote mountain ranges of the Yukon. His love for earth science and the natural world are of primary inspiration to his artistic work.