Andrew Buszchak: Counterproductive Work Behaviour
I am a recalcitrant labourer; my work is recalcitrant labour… Andrew Buszchak
Andrew Buszchak makes sculpture using carbon steel, lumber, and other materials common to the construction trades. Drawing inspiration from experiences as both a general labourer and journeyperson welder, he is particularly interested in materials and their associated joining methods – often taken for granted as a means to an end. With this body of work he looks to draw attention to the implicit hierarchy between “parent” material and the method for fastening, testing joining methods themselves in a shifting dialogue between his pursuit of meticulous technical achievements and acquiescence to the inherent tendencies and limitations of the materials he works with. Approaching this work as a critical commentary on labour itself, Buszchak suggests that “to overlook the joints of any given assembly is to enact a blindness metaphorically similar to the way subordinates are taken for granted by superiors.”
The sculptures in this exhibition represent the culmination of two years of focused work in the University of Guelph’s Master of Fine Arts program. The AGG’s annual exhibition of a graduating MFA student is presented in conjunction with the School of Fine Art and Music at the University of Guelph.
View More Exhibitions
exhibition
January 19.2023 / April 30.2023
This work chronicles the artist’s experience of pregnancy amid reports of high maternal mortality rates experienced by Black women in the U.S.
exhibition
January 19.2023 / May 14.2023
The first exhibition to explore pioneering feminist artist Mary Kelly’s long engagement with activist movements.
exhibition
January 19.2023 / April 30.2023
Connecting aspects of Indigenous cosmology to wider cultural meanings, this exhibition speaks to the idea of seeing through space.
exhibition
January 19.2023 / May 14.2023
This exhibition speaks to the connections between art and social activism and to the visual aesthetics that emerge from protest.
exhibition
January 19.2023 / April 30.2023
Taking root during pandemic lockdowns, this installation acknowledges loss while offering a space for grief and mourning.
exhibition
September 14.2022 / December 31.2022
Curated by Middlebrook Prize recipient Erin Szikora, Homecoming engages land, language, and community, offering strategies to rethink our relationships to home.
exhibition
September 14.2022 / December 31.2022
Examining intersections between botanical explorations and colonization, Anahita Norouzi focuses on the plant colloquially referred to as giant hogweed.
exhibition
September 14.2022 / December 31.2022
This exhibition of Haudenosaunee souvenir beadworks responds to the history of ethnographic collecting by celebrating personal, economic, and cultural value.