John Patkau

Born in Calgary, John Patkau studied architecture at the University of Manitoba, where he earned his Master’s degree in 1972. He is a practicing architect and co-founded Patkau Architects with his wife, Patricia Patkau, in 1978. Since 1994, their work has gained international reputation, with projects extensively featured in Europe and across North America. Known for an innovative approach to design, John emphasizes his commitment to differentiation, striving to make his work “more irregular, more varied.” This philosophy is reflected in the distinctive, expressive quality in his artworks, such as his sculptures Cut Drawn. "Cut Drawn is a direct intervention in that history, a disruption, however slight, that acknowledges, challenges, and illuminates the integrity of character that abides in one of the most ubiquitous of materials. For all of its strength, we know that the weakness of steel is heat. Steel in the crucible, amorphous and incandescent, may be cast into any shape desired. But the steel with which Cut/Drawn begins is already given a particular form: an industrially extruded plate. That form is itself an embodied record of the intentions and uses to which steel is put, without which the medium would not perform as it does. Cutting and drawing describes the intervention we make in its material presence. We cut it from its intended utility and draw out from it an alternative expression of its specific manufacture." - John Patkau