Elias Wakan art sale, a Triumph
By Bruce Mason, Gabriola Sounder
Thursday, February 26, 2004
An inquiry on his website, January 1st, has made Elias Wakan's year. The outcome of the internet hit continues to reverberate around the island, particularly in the arts community, where an $8,000 purchase by an international collector is big and welcome news, indeed.
"I received an email from England that simply asked, "Can I buy Triumph?" he recalls the message on the first day of 2004. The wood sculpture - well-known from Victoria to Gabriola - comprising 240 identical pieces of hemlock, is Wakan's largest and most complex piece to date.
The electronic transaction was quickly completed and the work, which was on exhibit at Victoria's Fran Willis Gallery, has recently arrived in London. It is now part of an important private collection which includes some of the world's greatest sculptors.
Accept no substitute. Elias Wakan's latest creation Ruff Substitute is named for the elaborate collars worn by women in the 17th Century. The Gabriola-based wood sculptor's unique artistry is attracting international attention.
|
|
Although other works of his have been purchased by art lovers across North America, they are enjoyed only by the owners and visitors to their residences. The collector who purchased Triumph, however, is a partner in the globally successful Virgin Entertainment/Record/Airline group, and the sculpture will be seen by moneyed, global trendsetters.
Photos of the work are well-known to many people. They have been reproduced in many newspapers, as well as the Nanaimo phone book (83,000 copies), postcards, Festival Gabriola promotion material, on TV Arts programs in Victoria, Nanaimo and Vancouver, and Wakan's business card and website, where it is now marked "sold."
The inspiring story of the creation of Triumph, however, is virtually unknown. It is the key piece in a series of six sculptures done over a period of a year. The sculpture began as a visual idea expressed in a rough, floppy cardstock model. Then came the calculations. After several unsuccessful attempts to do the calculations himself, Wakan sought the advice of Roger Servranckx - who has consulted on several of Wakan's sculptures. A mathematician and physicist, who worked on particle accelerators around the world (and now resides on Gabriola), Servranckx quickly reduced the problem to three equations in three unknowns, and simple trigonometry calculations produced the required angles and dimensions.
Next, about 500 identical pieces of wood were milled and 240 of the best pieces were glued into six partial cones, 40 pieces each. These six cones were then taped together to see how close they came to the desired shape. Disaster. After all that work, it wasn't right and Wakan was devastated for a while. Realizing he had to do something with the six partial cones, though, he tried assembling them in different combinations until he found one beautiful, natural shape, which when finished he called Cavalcade. After a few more of the spare pieces were assembled into a second sculpture, Wakan's enthusiasm for the original shape returned.
The problem was re-analyzed, recalculated, examined with a magnifying glass, and determined to have been caused by a clamping problem. The glue layer between each piece was not exactly even, being thinner on the outside edge of each joint. A new calculation determined that the bevel angle of each piece of wood had to be one-quarter of a degree sharper, easy to accomplish with a protractor around the bevel gear handle on the table saw.
The whole construction phase was repeated, though 750 pieces were cut this time to be sure of having plenty of good spares. The wood was again selected, planed, ripped, cross-cut, marked, taped, and glued. And this time it came out exactly as Wakan wished. Even better, there were now three sculptures, plus spare pieces enough to make three more sculptures.
Others in the series can be seen at the J. Mitchell Gallery on Salt Spring Island, as well as the Fran Willis Gallery, and Elias' own studio, Drumbeg House Studio, on Gabriola.
"Way to go, Elias!" is Artworks' Kathy Ramsey's reaction to the sale. "We get so spoiled here - not only do we get to see all this great art before it heads off into the world but we also get to have the artists as neighbours."
The new owner of Triumph purchased one of Elias' paper sculptures when he was visiting Gabriola a few years ago. "So many people never ever meet the creator of the art they buy and yet on the island it's a given that you know the artists, their work and their kids, dogs and cats. I hope we never take that for granted," said Ramsey.
Ramsey recalls several stories of recent purchases of Gabriola art, which are as unique as the creations: Alfred Kristiansen's magnificent carving, Shepherd's Cross, purchased by the community and now gracing a local church, a Tony Elston lamp bought by Hilary Clinton, major paintings by John Ogilvy which hang in an Edmonton boardroom, and Wendy Barrett's glasswork now residing in Texas.
One of her favourite art sale stories is a painting of sheep by Emily Carrington, now a veterinarian balancing her time between healing animals in Mission and her Mudge Island cabin.
"The painting was exhibited in the gallery at the Bank of Hong Kong in Vancouver which, despite its rural theme, more than held its own," she reports. "It caught the attention of a sheep farmer from Duncan who finally decided to buy it for $11,000 because he couldn't sleep without it."
The well-rested sheep farmer now contently counts Carrington's sheep, much like a lady who perches comfortably on a Fogo stool spotted in Artworks. "She told she us she couldn't live without it, and would find a way to get it back home even if it meant sitting on it in the aisle of the plane."
Wakan used part of the money from his biggest-ever sale to stage a celebratory party for patrons and friends who have been so supportive over the years. His work is on the cutting edge and illustrates the degree of sophistication and innovation in island artistry, attracting attention from near and far. It also defies description but can be seen at: www.eliaswakan.com.
|
