Elaine Cameron-Weir
Elaine Cameron-Weir’s work is informed by the array of systems and structures that humans have created to deal with the unknown – be that through scientific inquiry, religion, modes of governance or creative practices. Her sculptures incorporate part-objects repurposed from their scientific, medical, military or faith-giving functions into reliquaries or representations of larger systems of belief and power. Her installations combine these found fragments with definitively handmade elements, using techniques as varied as vitreous enamelling, glass casting, metalworking and leather tooling. Together these arrangements are often suspended from the ceiling, seemingly levitating from the ground, yet being simultaneously held in tension by gravity and an architectural framework of pulleys and cables. Materials can also be ephemeral, incorporating heat, light and scent, suggesting transformations of solid matter into dust or diffusion into atmosphere. Cameron-Weir’s sculptures often form uncanny mirror images, through symmetrical details that emphasise the dualistic nature of any narrative or narrator. Although her practice resists straightforward characterization or iconographic interpretation, Cameron-Weir’s works offer the possibility of passage through a portal or beyond a threshold, further facilitating the transition from one state to the next.
Elaine Cameron-Weir was born in 1985 in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada; she lives and works in New York. Past solo exhibitions at institutions include: Dressing for Windows (Exploded View), SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, USA (2022); STAR CLUB REDEMPTION BOOTH, Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, USA (2021); exhibit from a dripping personal collection, Dortmunder Kunstverein, Dortmund, Germany (2018); Outlooks, Storm King Art Center, New Windsor, USA (2018) and viscera has questions about itself, New Museum, New York, USA (2017). Her work has featured in major group exhibitions including The Milk of Dreams, curated by Cecilia Alemani at the 59th Venice Biennale, Italy (2022); New Time: Art and Feminisms in the 21st Century, BAMPFA, Berkeley, USA (2021); Present Tense, Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA (2019), as well as the Belgrade Biennale, Serbia (2021); the Montreal Biennial, Canada (2017) and the Fellbach Triennial of Small-Scale Sculpture, Germany (2016).
Elaine Cameron-Weir
newly laid test route on which ruts are already worn, 2023
154.9 x 91.4 x 17.8 cm
Elaine Cameron-Weir
newly laid test route on which ruts are already worn (detail), 2023
154.9 x 91.4 x 17.8 cm
Elaine Cameron-Weir
pupil of couture / 4horsemen hairshirt (SS 2024 apocalypse collection)
2023
leather trench coats, stainless steel, dyed calf leather, studs
Installed: 396.2 x 589.3 x 127 cm
Installed: 156 x 232 x 50 in
Elaine Cameron-Weir
the pest of affectation - fleas have fleas
2024 steel fire door, leather trench coat, meat hook, vitreous enamel on copper, magnets, horseshoe nails, steel grit
208.3 x 83.8 x 30.5 cm
82 x 33 x 12 in
Elaine Cameron-Weir
MY WAY MY LIFE
2024
glass display case, soot, varnish, aluminum, steel, neon tubing,
electrical components
97.2 x 121.9 x 53.3 cm
38 1/4 x 48 x 21 in
Elaine Cameron-Weir
MY LIFE MY WAY
2024
glass display case, soot, varnish, aluminum, steel, neon tubing, electrical components
97.2 x 121.9 x 54.6 cm
38 1/4 x 48 x 21 1/2 in
Elaine Cameron-Weir
western procession of oldest wounds (hit parade) wrecked high altar of buying tears
2024
aluminum horseshoes, conveyor belt, horseshoe nails, stainless steel, barrels, lead, steel grit, liquid candles
Installed: 396.2 x 1319.5 x 429.3 cm
Installed: 156 x 519 1/2 x 169 in
Elaine Cameron-Weir
dance macabre / waste management
2024
cast iron, steel pallet, lead, steel grit, liquid candles
34.3 x 106.7 x 153.7 cm
13 1/2 x 42 x 60 1/2 in
Elaine Cameron-Weir
stage makeup / vanitas
2024
cast iron, steel pallet, lead, steel grit, liquid candles
34.3 x 106.7 x 153.7 cm
13 1/2 x 42 x 60 1/2 in
Elaine Cameron-Weir
marginalia (5)
2024
White bronze, enamel, hardware
Four wall mounted metal plaques
14 x 16.5 x 1.9 cm Each
5 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 3/4 in Each
Elaine Cameron-Weir
marginalia (2)
2024
White bronze, enamel, hardware
Five wall mounted metal plaques
14 x 16.5 x 1.9 cm Each
5 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 3/4 in Each
Elaine Cameron-Weir
marginalia (1)
2024
White bronze, enamel, hardware
Five wall mounted metal plaques
14 x 16.5 x 1.9 cm Each
5 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 3/4 in Each
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Installation view of Exploded View / Dressing for Windows
Elaine Cameron-Weir
World Stage Town Crier (detail), 2022
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Installation view The Milk of Dreams
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Right Hand Left Hand, Grinds a Fantasizer’s Dust, 2021
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Low Relief Icon (Figure 1) (detail), 2021
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Low Relief Icon (Figure 1) (detail), 2021
Elaine Cameron-Weir
A toothless grin. A STAR EXPANSION! GLOBE OF DEATH A graveyard orbit, 2018
Elaine Cameron-Weir
A toothless grin. A STAR EXPANSION! GLOBE OF DEATH A graveyard orbit (detail), 2018
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Snake 12, 2020
427 x 41 x 152 cm
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Snake 12 (detail), 2020
427 x 41 x 152 cm
Elaine Cameron-Weir
it thought you were someone else it thought you were me bounded by strings in the distorted phases of a topological superfluid a mysterious density half-speed vortices and long walls, 2019
Elaine Cameron-Weir
it thought you were someone else it thought you were me bounded by strings in the distorted phases of a topological superfluid a mysterious density half-speed vortices and long walls (detail), 2019
Elaine Cameron-Weir
the witnesses turned away he signed the moon out of bed and fact folded back yielding a crumpled up smile a discarded face finally familiar it was setting the sun it was waiting for you, 2019
183 x 90 x 25 cm
Elaine Cameron-Weir
the witnesses turned away he signed the moon out of bed and fact folded back yielding a crumpled up smile a discarded face finally familiar it was setting the sun it was waiting for you, 2019
183 x 90 x 25 cm
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Installation view,III: HeavyShield, Knowles, Cameron-Weir
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Metaphor, 2016
Elaine Cameron-Weir
Metaphor, 2016
