drawn down

Public Art Commission, Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives, Brampton, Ontario. Opening Fall 2024

drawn down is composed of a contemporary single twin bed carved in black granite, examining the idea of a bed as comfort, in contrast to the stark conditions of penal incarceration. This bed of comfort is in memory of John Clark, a transient man who was arrested and taken to the Peel County Jail in 1884 for no reason other than he was homeless, and where he died shortly thereafter. The mattress cover-sheet is pulled back, exposing 1/3rd of the mattress and box spring in order to emphasize that this is not so much a bed to sleep on, but instead the notion of a bed imagined. Installed outside of the former Peel County Jail, the sculpture may be sat on and physically interacted with. The soft responsive image, in contrast to the hard and solid nature of the stone, is intended to elicit the idea of physical vs. perceived comfort. A large component of this commission is the stone surfacing for the entrance courtyard where the sculpture will be located. This is made from 3" thick large slabs of Jet Mist black granite that have been cut and assembled so that the grout lines mimic and suggest the perspectival cast shadows of the still-present bars on the jailhouse windows. The granite paving thereby locates the sculpture directly within its architectural surroundings and creates an active and somewhat unsettled visual ground from which the stone bed is to be viewed.