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Buttress is an architectural installation created specifically for Grunt Gallery. These tall elongated plywood structures (19 feet by 15 inches) lean diagonally against the gallery walls. These large vertical panels reference the flying buttress; an exterior structure built during the Gothic period to support monumental cathedrals. However, in the present exhibition, their primary function is reversed as a supporting structure, since the wood panels are installed in an already self-supporting interior space. The surfaces are carved with grinders, routers, sanders and chisels to expose their core and organic origin. The imagery evokes topographical forms and fictional mappings. These pieces become hybrid structures that reveal themselves through their own erosion underlying the dichotomy between natural and cultural.

Yechel Gagnon 2005

©2001 Yechel Gagnon