Feral Fabric is a sculpture that was installed for an annual exhibition held at the Gladstone Hotel, which looks at the intersection of urbanism, landscape and contemporary art. Taking inspiration from its environment, the sculpture embodies the spirit of urban wilderness that makes Toronto unique.
Status: Built
It combines a surprisingly organic, windswept form with a rock hard, industrial material. It is an unexpected surprise amongst the spontaneous vegetation, bustling traffic and urban graphics of the West Queen West neighbourhood.
Concrete Canvas (CC) is a flexible, concrete impregnated fabric that hardens when hydrated to form a thin, durable, water proof and fire resistant concrete layer.
CC is most often used in industrial applications, such as vehicle access routes, ditch lining, shelters, and erosion/slope control, but designers are quickly realizing its potential as a highly malleable medium for sculpture, furniture, and other artistic and industrial design applications.
Feral Fabric plays with the accidental character of urban environments, where the planned meets the spontaneous and organic. It embraces elements that were deliberately installed, unintentionally neglected, and naturally-occurring.
Gold paint transforms the utilitarian PVC underside of Concrete Canvas into a glimmering surprise that is revealed at points along the sculpture. The lustre adds a glamour that contrasts with the concrete colour on the other side.
When the sun sets, the sculpture is animated by the headlamps of cars, the changing colours of traffic lights, and the ever-evolving scene happening on the surrounding streets.
