What is the current interaction framework between us and the animate and inanimate organic tissues? Often raw materials are appropriated to serve our advancements in technology and engineering. Artist David Jacob Harder js interested in this dialogue in regards to the basic fundamentals of biomimicry and unforeseen change of the future biosphere. Growth and decay are of the utmost importance to his practice and for this particular piece he used the tissue of the ponderosa pine to speak to the change seen in BC’s interior and the noticeable ecological shifts that have ensued in his lifetime.
Throughout the Thompson Okanagan region thousands of these decaying trees erode into the hillsides and valley bottom. This change helped to inform Harder’s work and ultimately introduced new topics in the dialogue with the landscape. In the creation of the sphere, Harder looked to further investigate the symbol of the bark tissue as a landscape cell unto itself and continue his research into the the conglomeration of the mechanical and the raw. Through the implications of shape and form the symbol of the sphere called to mind the planets and tied it to the localized landscape The cell also enabled him to juxtapose the raw tissue of the tree with the constructed and deliver the concepts into a new territory of contemplation.
David Jacob Harder is a visual artist from the central interior of British Columbia, on the traditional territory of the Lhtako Dene. As a young man, he was homeschooled and lived on a rural homestead where he developed his vigor for making and a strong connection to the natural world. Later on, he followed these motivations in university where he earned bachelor degrees in visual arts and history. His work is centered on the connections in the built and natural environment as he applies an interpretive approach that invests in storytelling weaving the connective sentiments to each other, objects, and the natural world.
Harder’s work has appeared in numerous exhibitions, publications, festivals, films, and public artworks in Canada and abroad. His practice is heavily focused on public art which has earned him various major commissions and awards.
For more information about Harder’s work, visit his website.