New works by Darrell Oike

The artificial and the natural have an ambiguous but inevitable relationship in the present and into the future. The artificial is the result of humankind’s ingenuity and ability to transform the natural. At what point does retransformation occur? When does litter become artifact? Is humanity destroying nature or simply participating in its perpetual cycles of change and transmutation? These are questions asked by Darrell Oike in his recent works.

Responding to his recent months long residency in a large city (Montreal) after having lived for most of his life in Haida Gwaii, a small northern archipelago in British Columbia, Darrell creates scenes where the man made and the natural interface; a pickerel eating snails off of a high heel, a catfish taking up residence in a Chanel bag, a dove deceased on a sidewalk. Evocative and foreboding, these new works in cold cast bronze and dry stone plaster are a change in course for the artist who for the past 20 years has been practicing in ceramics.

Urban environments seemingly leave little space for nature to thrive. There is little doubt that we affect change upon the natural environment and as a species our influence and impact on the planet is forceful and obvious but the relationships can be subtle. Hermit crabs have been documented, notably by photographer Shawn Miller, using plastic caps and containers instead of shells for protection. The house mouse, originally a wild species, now mainly inhabits buildings. From bacteria to whales, we share the planet with a myriad of organisms. The processes of evolution and extinction have existed since the amoeba. How do we move through time in a symbiosis with our biological neighbours? And what will be our legacy?

Darrell Oike has been working in ceramics from his studio in Tlell (which is a small community on the islands of Haida Gwaii on the north coast of British Columbia) for the past 20 years. With a tendency to explore subject matter and themes close at hand, he takes advantage of the endless natural beauty surrounding him. He has had several solo and group exhibitions of his ceramics in Haida Gwaii and Vancouver and sometimes teaches on the islands.