Acquired directly from artist
By descent to present Private Collection, Toronto
Literature
Gathie Falk and Robin Laurence, Apples, etc.: An Artist’s Memoir, Vancouver, 2018, pages 99-103
While walking past a window display of a shoe store on Fraser Street in Vancouver, Gathie Falk was immediately inspired to create her well-known “Bootcases” series. Shelves lined with men’s boots and shoes reminded the artist of “their homely power, their ability to symbolize human presence and also human enterprise—tasks undertaken, distances walked—in an unpretentious way.” The artist had used a pair of black zippered boots purchased by friend, Tom Graff, to model the first nine boots. While working through the process, the artist morphed into a cobbler of sorts, cutting and shaping the soles and uppers of the boots while still wearing the hat of sculptor while carefully molding the clay into realistic worn-looking forms.
The artist remarks on this series:
“For the ‘Bootcases’, I did not want to make pairs either. I established the theme of single right men’s shoes and boots, which I mounted on shelves in glass-fronted cases. With the inside of the shoe facing outward. The inside, with its zippers and seams, is the emotional side of the shoe. The outside, which is displayed in shop windows, is the public and decorative side. The shoes in style them had thick platform soles and big clunky heels. I wanted classic shoes, styles that would endure through time when the trendy ones flopped.”
Glazed in deep oxblood red, the light creases of wear and the softening of the ankle shaft give the sculpture a realistic worn quality, a sort of proletariat reference on the wear and tear on the boot and the life of the wearer.
