Canadian Muscle

Caleb Speller

September 3 to October 2, 2010

Once upon a time, there were factories in Canada that made thousands of useful things. Nails, stamp pads, pencils, batteries, hand salve, doorknobs, records—you name it, chances are we made it. Made in Canada was stamped on each of these products; a certain pride contained in those three words.

Canadian Muscle is a series of drawings which document and celebrate this disappeared DIY aesthetic and keep-it-in-Canada attitude. Each drawing represents a unique piece of our industrial and patriotic history which employed countless Canadians over the decades. This spirit of self-reliance is enjoying a renaissance, with locally farmed produce, local craftsmen/artisans and domestic industry promoted and newly appreciated. Speller's work is an appeal to further this trend by actively sourcing available alternatives to foreign imports, and demanding Canadian made goods.

Caleb Speller was born in Victoria, BC. His artwork explores themes such as cultural inheritance, objects and imagery as recorders of time, material attachment and the visual narrative. Speller sees his artwork as a partially written book made with missing pages from other books. He shows his work at galleries and alternative venues throughout Victoria, Vancouver and Portland.