What You See, Unseen

43
Brian Jungen was born in 1970 on a family farm north of Fort St.
John, British Columbia. His father was Swiss born and immigrated
to British Columbia with his family when he was three years old.
Jungen’s mother was Aboriginal, a member of the Dane-zaa Nation.
Jungen was seven years old when both his parents perished in a fire.
After which he was raised by his fathers’ sister and her husband.
Jungen recalls his mother’s ability to adapt objects to new uses,
something he now famously does within his artistic practice. He
recalls “She was constantly trying to extend the life of things, packages,
utensils. Once we had to use the back end of a pickup truck
as an extension for our hog pen.”
In 1988 he moved to Vancouver to attend the Emily Carr Institute
of Art and Design. He graduated four years later with a Diploma of
Visual Art. After which he moved to Montreal and New York City prior
to returning to Vancouver.
In 1998 he took part in a self-directed residency at The Banff Centre
for the Arts, Banff, Alberta. This residency would become the tipping
point in his career. As it was there that he began to work on his now
famous Prototypes for New Understanding (1998-2005); a series
of sculptures he created by disassembling and reassembling Nike
Air Jordan sneakers to resemble Northwest Coast Aboriginal masks.
He would go on to explore his interest in using sports paraphernalia
creating sculptures out of catchers mitts, baseball bats, and basket
ball jerseys. Jungen has stated that it is a deliberate choice to create
works out of materials produced by the sports industry; an industry
that appropriates Aboriginal terminology, such as the team names
The Chiefs, Indians, Redskins and Braves. However Jungen’s work is
not exclusively tied to his heritage. He has stated “My involvement
with my family and traditions is personal - it’s not where my art
comes from.”
His interest in architecture and in particular Buckminster Fuller is
also evident in his practice with his creation of multiple shelters for
humans, animals and birds. Overriding the majority of his work is
Jungen’s ability to disassemble and reassemble objects maintaining
the integrity and meaning of his source material and yet creating
new possibilities for meaning Shapeshifter (2000) / Transmutation
(2000).
Brian Jungen