Scott Rogers at Franz Kaka

Artist: Scott Rogers

Exhibition title: Behind the Eyes

Venue: Franz Kaka, Toronto, Canada

Date: March 8 – 31, 2018

Photography: all images copyright and courtesy of the artist and Franz Kaka, Toronto

Behind the Eyes is a new installation developed specifically for the space of Franz Kaka. The works in the exhibition continue Rogers’ focus on encounters between human and animal, and the wider implications regarding power, control, care, and desire that these encounters bring to bear. Invisible compositional infrastructures — pictorial and spatial — frame the exhibition. Rogers is interested in how these guides conform movement and seeing, how the arbitrariness of formatting can restrict a body. As a counterpoint, a new sculpture made from destroyed car parts introduces a spirit of playful vandalism towards human property and orderliness.

With much gratitude and respect to Simon Buckley, Neil Clements, Richard Frater, Lauren Gault, Will Holder, Birthe Jorgensen, Mason Leaver-Yap, Duncan Marquiss, Emmie McLuskey, Stuart Middleton, Lauren Printy Currie, Alisha Raissa, Kari Robertson, Michael Rogers, and Sarah Rose for their studio visits and continued conversations that contribute so much to this exhibition and my work.

Scott Rogers (born Calgary, CA) lives in Glasgow, Scotland. Scott has an MFA from the Glasgow School of Art (UK), a BFA from the University of Calgary (CA) and also studied at the Staedelschule (Frankfurt, DE). Solo exhibitions include Collective (Edinburgh, UK), Southern Alberta Art Gallery (Lethbridge, CA), YYZ Artists’ Outlet (Toronto, CA), Glasgow Sculpture Studios (UK), Artspace (with Sarah Rose, Auckland, NZ), One Night Only (Oslo, NO), and PM Galerie (Berlin, DE). Scott’s work has been part of group exhibitions, screenings, and performances at KW Institute for Contemporary Art (Berlin, DE), CCA Glasgow (UK), Amsterdam Kunstverein (NL), Western Front (Vancouver, CA), The Art Gallery of Alberta (Edmonton, CA), Bergen Kunsthall (NO), Platform (Melbourne, AU), Nanaimo Art Gallery (CA), Glasgow International (UK), Alaska Projects (Sydney, AU), St Paul St Gallery (Auckland, NZ) and Portikus (Frankfurt, DE). Scott has made publications with Mark Von Schlegell, Mason Leaver-Yap, and most recently co-edited “Recognition”, the 14th edition of the journal F.R.DAVID with Will Holder. He recently completed the first leg of an exchange between La Ira de Dios (Buenos Aires, AR) and Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop (UK). These two residencies will culminate in an exhibition at ESW as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival 2018.

Scott Rogers, Behind the Eyes, 2018, exhibition view, Franz Kaka, Toronto

Scott Rogers, Behind the Eyes, 2018, exhibition view, Franz Kaka, Toronto

Scott Rogers, Behind the Eyes, 2018, exhibition view, Franz Kaka, Toronto

Scott Rogers, DEF Compressions (detail), 2018, 1:1 digital reproductions from Birds of America by John James Audubon on Hahnemühle paper, Velcro, each: 100cm x 72cm

Scott Rogers, DEF Compressions (detail), 2018, 1:1 digital reproductions from Birds of America by John James Audubon on Hahnemühle paper, Velcro, each: 100cm x 72cm

Scott Rogers, DEF Compressions (detail), 2018, 1:1 digital reproductions from Birds of America by John James Audubon on Hahnemühle paper, Velcro, each: 100cm x 72cm

Scott Rogers, DEF Compressions (detail), 2018, 1:1 digital reproductions from Birds of America by John James Audubon on Hahnemühle paper, Velcro, each: 100cm x 72cm

Scott Rogers, Kea the Destroyer (Homer Tunnel, January 9, 2017), 2017/8, Damaged car parts, steel wire, Thermarest Z-Lite camping mattress, 118cm x 51cm x 20cm

Scott Rogers, Kea the Destroyer (Homer Tunnel, January 9, 2017) (detail), 2017/8, Damaged car parts, steel wire, Thermarest Z-Lite camping mattress 118cm x 51cm x 20cm

Scott Rogers, Kea the Destroyer (Homer Tunnel, January 9, 2017) (detail), 2017/8, Damaged car parts, steel wire, Thermarest Z-Lite camping mattress 118cm x 51cm x 20cm

Scott Rogers, Standard Deviation (detail), 2018, Pest-control spikes, hardware 150cm height, variable length

Scott Rogers, Standard Deviation (detail), 2018, Pest-control spikes, hardware 150cm height, variable length

Scott Rogers, Behind the Eyes, 2018, exhibition view, Franz Kaka, Toronto