Gordon Becker

Biography

Gordon Becker’s life in art began in earnest at the age of eleven in Wellesley, Ontario.  Being utterly captivated by the magic of an Inuit carving from a raw lump of stone, he was determined to become a carver. 

Becker completed studies at Ontario College of Art; then went on to apprentice in Carpentry in New Zealand. His work has been included in numerous commercial films and commissions. In 2003 he was invited to exhibit at the Biennale Internazionale dell’Arte Contemporanea in Florence, Italy, where he was the recipient of the Gold Medallion, Sculpture Category.  He was the recipient of the Canada Council Travel Grant and the Department of Foreign and International Trade Travel Grant. Becker was elected into the Sculptors Society of Canada in 2000. His practice is based in Toronto.

Artist Statement

Art, throughout human history, has reached for the dream of its time; sated hunger, power over enemies, transcendence of the ordinary and oppressive, connection to the gods, and the longing for subtlety, purity, and simplicity.

I began carving dancers in 1984.  I see in the dancer’s brief, seconds-long flight the most poignant expression of the dream of flying; of becoming the arrow of our longing.  The arrow on the rock wall is in eternal flight, as are my dancers.  Their hands and bodies reach, frozen as art, into a moment of transformation.

The shaping of wood into objects of longing and projection is one of the oldest of human activities.  The fire-hardened stick took flight many thousands of years ago, and I hope to continue that flight with my work.