Title

Man

Artist

Dennis, Michael

Date

1998

Medium

wood

Type

sculpture

Owner

SFU Art Collection

Accession Number

NA

Location

Simon Fraser University

Category

SFU Art Collection

Collection

Public Art

Lat/Long

49.276521,-122.913932

View in Google Maps

http://www.google.com/maps?q=49.276521,-122.913932

This massive cedar sculpture of a hammer contemplates the concept of masculinity by capturing the essence of human gesture. Michael Dennis, PhD, a former professor and neurophysiological research scientist at UC Berkeley, shifted from academia to the arts to create “representations of the self”. Painted with colour stain, Man is installed on the south side of the TASC 1 building. This work is part of the Simon Fraser University Art Collection. The SFU Art Collection contains over 5,800 works. Approximately 1,000 works of art are shown throughout the campus and integrated in public, administrative and common learning spaces. A selection of the most accessible in this diverse repository are incorporated into the City of Burnaby Public Art Registry. For more extensive information about the holdings at SFU, visit: https://www.sfu.ca/galleries/Collections.html

Michael Dennis (1941-present) has lived on Denman Island for 30 years, carving monumental figures in salvaged cedar; abstract and semi-representational, they have power, presence and personality and demonstrate Dennis’ intimate mastery of the human form. Originally from California, a professor and neurophysiological research scientist at University of California, San Francisco, Michael made a dramatic shift in the 80’s, from the academy of science to the practice of art and the making of “representations of self” and ancestral tropes. His work is in prominent collections here and abroad, his carved figures are familiar in Vancouver with public installations at SFU, UBC and ‘Dude Chilling park.