Launch of Ryan Gander commission, ‘The Cat, the Clock and the Rock’, Toronto, Canada

30 April 2025

A new permanent public sculpture commission by Ryan Gander has been unveiled at 234 Simcoe Street, Toronto, Canada. The project is commissioned by Lanterra Developments for their new Artists Alley development, supported by OCAD U Centre for Emerging Artists and Designers.

The Cat, the Clock and the Rock, 2025, commission is a double-rendered clock, milled in highly polished mirror-finish stainless steel. The clock rests on an enlarged digital facsimile of a rock that is arguably 4.3 billion years old, ethically sourced by geologist, Jonathan O’Neil, from the Nuvvuagittuq greenstone belt in Hudson Bay, Canada. Lying in the vicinity is a life-size stone sculpture of a domestic cat sleeping in the shadow of the clock and the rock.

Through associative thought processes that connect the everyday and the esoteric, the overlooked and the commonplace, Gander’s work involves a questioning of language and knowledge, as well as a reinvention of both the modes of appearance and the creation of an artwork. His work can be reminiscent of a puzzle, or a network with multiple connections and the fragments of an embedded story. It is ultimately a huge set of hidden clues to be deciphered, encouraging viewers to make their own associations and invent their own narrative in order to unravel the complexities staged by the artist.

Find out more via OCAD U.

Image: Photography by Gordon Szendrey © Ryan Gander, Courtesy the artist