Around the World

About Around the World

This pop art inspired indoor sculpture was created by Roch Smith.

A ‘tower’ of stacked turquoise, red and white Yo-yo’s—a popular toy in the 1960’s, is crowned by a small bronze sculpture of a human figure. The figure is casually dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, his head bowed as if in contemplation as he stands holding the strings used to play with the toys. Smith’s artwork often uses toys to engage the viewer in ‘serious’ play. This scenario is, in fact, unmanageable given the volume of toys but that underscores the artist’s intent—to create situations that ‘have some small sort of peril.’ For Smith the Yo-yo is nostalgic—reminiscent of university days when he and his roommates challenged each other by performing difficult tricks with the toy. ‘Around the World’ is the name of one of those tricks.

“There is a great physicality to the Yo-yo and it appeals to me in that it is not something you do virtually (like video games). The piece has a link to the Jenga - tinker toy - Lego towers that I've done over the past years. I am always thinking in terms of scale - so the idea of using smaller toy parts in an excessive way to create volume appeals to my sense of serious play.” - Roch Smith

Roch Smith received a BFA (Honours Sculpture) from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (ECIAD - 1997) and an MFA from York University (2003). A teacher as well as an artist, he has taught classes at the University of Waterloo, ECIAD and York University. He currently manages and operates the bronze and aluminum foundry at York University. Roch Smith has exhibited throughout Canada and in the US. His work is included in private, corporate and museum collections.