Denis

About Denis

A man’s face weathered by time, balding, bushy white eyebrows, staring straight ahead, his slender nude body striking a casual pose, arm resting on one raised knee. This is Denis. A friend? Or perhaps a relative? Joe Fafard, the internationally recognized Canadian sculptor’s superb work is evident in the realistic detail of every human and animal he chose to sculpt. This bronze piece is patinated—layers and layers of colour—a tawny brown, white and black that only adds to the realism and texture.

“…One advantage of doing a portrait in sculpture rather than in painting is that painting only has 1 point of view. While a sculpture has a myriad of points of view that go all the way around the sculpture so you can increase the impact in a sculpture that you wouldn’t be able to do in a painting. I’m not saying that sculpture is a superior art form to painting…I’m insisting on it.” Joe Fafard

Fafard was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981 and received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Regina, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The National Gallery of Canada with the Mackenzie Art Gallery in Regina mounted a retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work that toured to six venues between 2007 and 2009. Fafard's artworks are held in major museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada.