Photo: Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
Peak (Ode to the Lions)  - photo by Rachel Topham Photography
1111 Richards Street
8X on the Park
The artwork is sited at the tower entrance at the east side of the building fronting Richards Street, set into the water feature.
Private development
2021
mirror-finish stainless steel
Sculpture
In place
Privately owned
8X on the Park
Yaletown Downtown South Quadrant
Description of work

The public artwork, Peak (Ode to the Lions), consists of a two-part sculpture depicting mountain forms rendered in mirror-finish marine grade stainless steel. The sculpture sits at the front tower entrance on Richards Street at the east of the site. The two pieces are installed facing one another, just above the waterline in the upper tier of the water feature to give the illusion that they are floating. Each piece measures 5’ 6” x 3’3” x 6’. The public artwork is inspired by the constancy, eternity, and stillness of mountains, paying ode to Vancouver’s iconic Lions. Recontextualized in an urban environment, they become precious and unexpected jewel-like objects that play off the architecture and activity of the park.

Peak (Ode to the Lions) was commissioned by Brenhill Developments as part of their participation in the City of Vancouver's Public Art Program for Private Development.  

Artist statement

We were thinking about the elegant architecture, the activity of the park, the urbanity of Yaletown - and about the Vancouver’s iconic Lions in the distance, just beyond the edge of the city. We were also thinking about the stark, mystical mountain paintings of Lawren Harris, and a Canadian identity tied to a mythical sense of the landscape.

As you walk along the street you see something intriguing that suggests the wild landscape beyond—the dramatic, faceted form of paired mountains within the upper pool. The forms are identical but ‘mirrored’ to one another, a play of artifice. Peak (Ode to the Lions) is made of mirror-finish stainless steel—a refined medium, yet also playful and interactive. The mirrored surfaces capture and refract light, pattern, colour, abstracting the city around us, always shifting as the light changes, as people pass by.

As a metaphor, the mountains are about constancy, eternity, stillness—the internal journey. As objects, they are elegant, captivating and socially engaging. Peak (Ode to Lions) is an unexpected jewel-like object—an unchanging form always shifting with the light; like the landscape itself, still yet everchanging.

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