Lunatique
Richard Turner, 1967
Background
Commissioned by the Canadian Corporation for the 1967 World Exhibition, this sculpture is located in a rectangular basin near the Montreal Port Authority's head office at 2100 Pierre-Dupuy Avenue.
The work was part of a series of forty sculptures by local artists designed to showcase contemporary Canadian sculpture to visitors from around the world. These works were selected by a committee tasked with ensuring that the works originated from various regions of the country and represented current artistic trends.
The artwork
The work is composed of two parts. It mainly consists of a ball encircled by a disk from which eight curved, hook-like rays emerge. The back of the ball is closed in the middle by a tapered shape resembling an eye, while at the front, the upper body of a spider-like man emerges swinging his arms above his head. All around this figure, on the disc, woven webs attach the leg hooks of a spider to the base of the man's trunk. This circular, three-dimensional entity appears perched on legs made of a series of slender metal rods that elevate the sculpture above both the observer and the pool of water. On this modern pedestal, the sculpture is angled so that the man's arms point skyward and his eye looks downward.
This work by Richard Turner aligns with the return to figurative art. Born in Edmonton in 1936, Turner studied at the Vancouver School of Arts (now ECU) between 1958 and 1962. In 1963, the National Gallery of Canada acquired one of his bronzes, Gesture No. 1. In 1966, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts acquired another of his works, Chambers. The following year, he participated in Expo 67 and Toronto’s Sculpture ‘67 Open-air Exhibition of Canadian Sculpture. From 1974-1974, he taught at the Vancouver School of Arts, then decided to devote himself exclusively to painting. He exhibited widely and won many awards in his career.