John Greer: Hard Thought

by Ray Cronin

When John Greer (b. 1944) started teaching sculpture at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in the 1970s, the college was fast becoming one of the incubators of the emerging international Conceptual Art movement. From his early experiments in conceptual sculpture, Greer’s artistic practice shifted to re-engage with traditional sculptural forms and techniques, re-imagining them in a way that would make him a pivotal figure in contemporary sculpture in Canada. In his essay, Ray Cronin recounts the arc of Greer’s career, demonstrating how Greer’s work refreshes and extends our understanding of the language of sculpture and the way in which thought might be made manifest in material.

61 pages, Paperback

Published October 28, 2019

About the author

Ray Cronin is Director and CEO of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, appointed in 2008. From 2001 to 2008 he was Curator of Contemporary Art at the AGNS. Cronin was the founding curator of the Sobey Art Award and served as chair of the Sobey jury until 2008. He currently serves on the Sobey Art Award Governance Committee. Prior to 2001 Ray Cronin was a writer, curator and artist based in Fredericton, New Brunswick.