News Release Communique
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 4th, 2004
Local Artist's Abstract Work Installed at Synchrotron
A major abstract work by Eli Bornstein, a noted artist with strong ties to the University of Saskatchewan, was celebrated in a ceremony today at the Canadian Light Source (CLS).
The large-scale paneled artwork, three years in the making, is installed on the north façade of the CLS building.
"Eli Bornstein's longstanding relationship with the university, his status as a senior Canadian artist, and his interest in the relationship between art and science make it fitting for his art to be showcased at the CLS," said U of S President Peter MacKinnon. "It is exciting to be able to accept this major contribution to the U of S permanent collection."
Bornstein, professor emeritus of fine arts and one of Canada's first abstract artists, is renowned for his pioneering work with light and colour. His abstract three-dimensional works, which he terms "structurist reliefs," have been exhibited internationally. He donated his artist's fee for the commission.
The work was designed so its appearance would change in response to daily shifts in sunlight and shadow, as well as seasonal variations. Its six massive aluminum panels, each five feet wide and 10 feet high, are painted in a progression of colours from blue-green to yellow, resembling an unfolding stream of colour.
The CLS, which will open this fall, generates brilliant light to help scientists study minute structures in nature. The sequence of coloured panels in Bornstein's work uses the lightest part of the colour spectrum and suggests the molecular phenomenon of light and colour, "celebrating the function of the synchrotron," Bornstein said.
"Science deals with one aspect of reality, and art with another," he said. "I think they complement one another."
CLS Executive-Director Bill Thomlinson notes that images of solid and and biological structures taken using synchrotron light cover the range from perfectly symmetric and periodic to completely abstract.
"This beautiful relief exemplifies on a macroscopic scale the intrinsic beauty of images created with light, in this case the visible part of the spectrum," he said. "Since we do not use visible light from the synchrotron for imaging, this work complements all of our scientific imaging in a natural way."
Bornstein is represented in the National Gallery of Canada, as well as numerous other public and private collections. The Forum Gallery in New York recently purchased four of his circa-1960s works. His large-scale commissions include an abstract construction for the Winnipeg airport (1962) and a four-part vertical construction for Regina's Wascana Centre Authority (1984).
Bornstein, who joined the U of S faculty in 1950, has made a significant contribution to the university as a scholar, lecturer and writer. In 1959-60, he introduced a new course, Structure and Colour in Space. This became an area of specialty unique in North America. The Structurist, the international art journal Bornstein founded in 1960 and continues to edit, is published by the university and distributed to more than 35 countries.
Kent Archer, director/curator of the university's Kenderdine Gallery and the U of S art collection, said there are two of Bornstein's works on paper and two of his constructions in the university's collection.
"We're delighted to be able to acquire a new work, one of his major structurist reliefs. As a teacher and an artist, Eli has been an important figure in the history of the university's art department," he said.
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Bornstein studied art in Chicago and Paris and received his art degrees from the University of Wisconsin. He was head of the U of S art department from 1963-72. Upon his retirement in 1990, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Letters (DLitt).
Bornstein's 15-foot aluminum construction, "The Tree of Knowledge," was commissioned by the Saskatchewan Teachers' Federation (STF) and installed in downtown Saskatoon in 1957. There were many critics of the abstract work, the first of its kind in the city and the province, but it is now widely used as a symbol of the STF and is a feature of its new building on Arlington Avenue.
Bornstein's work reflects his interests in both natural and built environments. Among his awards is the 1968 Allied Arts Medal from the Royal Architecture Institute of Canada. A scale model of his Wascana Centre artwork has recently been acquired by the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal for its permanent collection.
The U of S art collection, established in 1911 by the institution's first president, Walter Murray, now numbers more than 4,000 works. While its concentration is 90 per cent Canadian, it also has a small collection of international structurist works.
The U of S-owned national synchrotron facility (www.lightsource.ca) is one of the most advanced synchrotrons in the world.
Selected photographs of Bornstein’s latest work at the CLS are available online at http://www.lightsource.ca/photos/events.php
For more information, contact:
Eli Bornstein
Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 652-9740
eli.bornstein@usask.ca
Kathryn Warden
Research Communications
University of Saskatchewan
(306) 966-2506
kathryn.warden@usask.ca
Last modified: 2012-01-19 17:01:42