Art down cold

Inspired by glacial walls and pure colors playing through the crystal structure of ice, Canadian artist Gordon Halloran has created ambitious monumental public art installations in Canada, the U.S. and Europe. His double exhibition, “Ice Break,” in the new leaf gallery | sculpturesite, and “Breaking Up is Hard to Do,” by the outdoor reflecting pool, is now open at Cornerstone Sonoma.

“As Canadians, we have a personal and collective experience with ice and cold which is unique,” Halloran said. “We stare down into a sheet of frozen ice and see ourselves reflected clearly in a mirror the size of the sky.”

For his large-scale large works, the 100-foot “Ice Gate,” for example, Halloran incorporated real ice. For the Sonoma show, he worked with a modern, acid-free material to create permanent sculptures that most resemble his frozen works. “I had the desire to bring the naturally created ephemeral forms of my ice work into a permanent but malleable state,” he said. The goal: “to further investigate the nature of the fracture, movement, and disintegration of our evolving landscape.”

The result “captures the graphic patterns that emerge from the magnificent interplay of crystalline growth.” The pieces will be on site through July 7.

In 2008, more than 176,000 people visited Halloran’s site-specific (100′ long, 14′ high, double-sided) “Museum of Modern Ice” at Millennium Park, in Chicago. Toronto City Hall hosted over 50,000 visitors to “Paintings Below Zero,” a site-specific installation (80′ long by 10′ wide) of frozen paintings in 2007.

In Turin, Italy, Halloran was Canada’s official representative to the Cultural Olympiad for the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, where his site-specific installation filled an entire church with “Pitture Sotto Zero.” At the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, he created “Ice Gate,” a 100′ long by 14′ high site-specific installation.

The gallery is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Cornerstone Sonoma, 23570 Arnold Dr.