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Item Name: Sculpture
Title: Structure
Maker: Ronald Kostyniuk
Year: 1968
Country: Canadian
Materials: spray enamel on mixed substrate, brushed aluminum
Measurements: overall: 65 cm x 32.5 cm x 30 cm
ID Number: PC2008.10
Legal Status: PERMANENT COLLECTION


Extended Label Info: An early work by artist and scientist Ron Kostyniuk, this sculpture of brushed aluminum boxes faced in brightly coloured wooden squares creates a sense of visual tension through the contrast of the precise geometric shapes and the unstable way they are stacked. As a student, Kostyniuk was deeply inspired by the analytical approach to art in the writings of American painter and sculptor Charles Biederman, and by the artists of the early 20th Century abstract movements of Constructivism and Structurism. Kostyniuk describes his own process in developing sculptures as making “visual analogies to nature’s created forms”. He strives to reflect the patterns in nature using abstraction rather than making naturalistic representations of nature. Ronald Kostyniuk (1941 - ) was born in Wakaw, Saskatchewan to a Ukrainian-Canadian family, and began his career as a high school biology teacher. Kostyniuk earned a BA in Biology and a BEd from the University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon (1963); BFA, University of Alberta, Edmonton (1969); MSc (1970) and an MFA (1971), University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA. Kostyniuk began teaching as a professor at the University of Calgary in 1971, and is now Emeritus, retired and living in Calgary. Elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Art in 1975, he has exhibited internationally, and his work is represented in numerous collections including the Institute of Modern Art (Chicago), Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), MacKenzie Art Gallery (Regina), Winnipeg Art Gallery, Museum of Modern Art (Germany).