Sculpture Visual Support

Jason Baerg

B.F.A. Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Graduate Certificate in New Digital Media, George Brown / Ryerson, Toronto, Canada

M.F.A. Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA

Adjunct Instructor: Rutgers, Mason Gross School of the Arts, 2014-2016

Institute of American Indian Arts, 2016 - present

Oskâyi Askîy Series

ᐅᐢᑳᔨ ᐊᐢᑮᕀ

Pronounced Oskâyi Askîy, which means The New World in Cree, Installation @ Mason Gross Galleries, 2016

The current developing body of work, Oskâyi Askîy explores themes of human survivance, engaged by Anishinaabe cultural theorist Gerald Vizenor as he writes about "the enunciations of dominance, tragedy and victimry." Oskâyi Askîy carries survivance into reflective spaces of activation, as we now witness international artistic trends engulfing the apocalyptic as illustrated in numerous symposiums, including the 2015 Art+Climate = Change Festival, which occurred in Melbourne, Australia, highlighting the works of artists and scholars from around the world.

Laser cutting is a means to extend a new sculptural element into the work. I first engaged this process in 2012 while on residency at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.

Oyasiwewina, which means, The Law in Cree

204"x60" Acrylic and Tempera on Laser Cut Canvas over 12' x 8' Ladder, 2016

Click here to get a sense of the new media component.

In Art in The Age of Asymmetry, Timothy Morton proposes, "that we have entered a new era of aesthetics, shaped by the current ecological emergency."

Oskâyi Askîy is an abstract body of work that considers a disconnected rapport with the environment as a result of misdirected human desire. The Sky, Animals and Land are processed through technology and are translated as flesh, fauna and playful apparatus. As a working artistic practice based methodology, this process acts as an exploratory space to consider future solutions to the calamity at hand.

Onôcihitowipîsim, which is Cree for: September, The Mating Moon

48"x48", Acrylic, Tempera and Oil on Laser Cut Canvas, 2016

Detail

ᐸᑯᐦᒉᓀᐤ

Pronounced Pakohcenew, which means, S/he Removes its Intestines in Cree

8’x5', Acrylic, Tempera and Oil on Laser Cut Canvas, 2016

Blue Vision Collaboration

"Blue Vision" Installation at Counihan Art Gallery, Melbourne, Australia, Mixed Media Sculpture, 2015, in collaboration with Jen Rae (Metis) and Peter Waples-Crowe (Ngarigo).

Trophies of War

Artists practice visioning and when we (Jen Rae, Peter Waples-Crowe and Jason Baerg) actively imagine the future, we consider how art serves as a mechanism to find language to trigger change. When we contemplate the fate of Indigenous Culture, we welcome this opportunity to transgress loss through acts of reclamation. These actions are taken with intention, through the weaving of abstraction, through figuration, through fictional narrative and nonlinear means of storytelling in the form of a collaborative installation. Our totems are used as vehicles for telling, revealing and projecting empowerment.

Raven, Dingo and Wolf

Blue Vision, Mixed Media Installation, Various Sizes, 2015

Other laser cut work within the Oskâyi Askîy Series

New Pangea, 2'x3', laser cut canvas, 2015

Install at Durham Art Gallery

2'x3', Laser Cut Vinyl, 2015

Anthropocene, 2'x3', Laser Cut Paper, 2015

10,000 Sea Lions I, 2'x3', 2015

10,000 Sea Lions II, 2'x3', 2015

Nomadic Bounce Series

"Four Legged", Nomadic Bounce, Judith and Norman Alix Art Gallery, Sarnia, Ontario, 2015

Various: Site Specific Installation

Acrylic on Laser Cut Wood, Elastic Bands, Industrial Nails / Video

Detail

"Facing Self, Facing Society", Nomadic Bounce, Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg, 2014

Various: Site Specific Installation

Acrylic on Laser Cut Wood, Elastic Bands, Industrial Nails

"This Train is Empty", Nomadic Bounce, Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Various: Site Specific Installation
Acrylic on Laser Cut Wood, Elastic Bands, Industrial Nails / Video, 2013

This is an image of a collaborative new media performance with Adrian Stimson, and JS Gautier. Above we are constructing a constructed sculptural element to activate the depth sensitive projections used in the performance.

This is another image of the collaborative new media performance with Adrian Stimson, and JS Gautier. Here we use a constructed sculptural element to activate the depth sensitive projections used in the performance.