Title

Untitled Blocks

Artist

Pfeifer, Bodo

Date

1972

Medium

concrete

steel

Type

sculpture

Dimensions

1.14m height x 7.32m width x 7.59m depth

Owner

City of Burnaby

Accession Number

PA2014.8

Location

Deer Lake Park

Category

City of Burnaby Public Art Collection

Collection

Public Art

Lat/Long

49.239332,-122.969407

View in Google Maps

http://www.google.com/maps?q=49.239332,-122.969407

Created on site and installed in 1972, Bodo Pfeifer’s blocks were initially planned for installation in a Vancouver park. However, after the Vancouver Park Board rejected the work, Pfeifer turned next to the Fraser River, with intentions of installing the piece on a sandbar. When this proved impossible, he approached Lloyd Berry, the former fine arts supervisor for the Burnaby Arts Centre. After discussing the idea with Pfeifer, the City of Burnaby approved not only Bodo’s block sculpture but the concept of a sculpture garden planned for Centennial Gardens. While the sculpture garden only saw a brief exhibit in 1977, Pfeifer’s nine, dandelion-yellow blocks remain on site, and were fully restored in 2018.

Bodo Pfeifer (1936-unknown) was born in Germany, where he studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg under Friedensreich Hundertwasser. He later studied at the École des beaux-arts in Montreal and finally the Vancouver School of Art (now the Emily Carr University of Art + Design). He is accomplished in a number of different mediums, and his work has included both solo and group exhibitions at the Douglas Gallery, the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Royal Canadian Academy, the University of British Columbia Fine Arts Gallery, and the National Gallery of Canada. Pfeifer is one of the many pioneers of abstract sculpture who proliferated in Vancouver during the 1960s. His work is included in the collections of the Canada Council Art Bank, the National Gallery of Canada, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Musée des beaux-art de Montréal, and the Burnaby Art Gallery. He also has a mural installed at the Vancouver International Airport (1968). Years ago, Bodo disappeared from the art scene and his whereabouts are currently unknown.