Roger Vilder
(1938–)
Roger Vilder
1938–
Roger Vilder (1938– ) is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with kinetics, sculpture, drawing, animation, video, and neon. His practice is based on the language and form of the constructivists. As such, he is focused on using geometric patterns and the logic of mathematical concepts found in nature to illustrate processes of transformation and movement. When in motion, his work has been described as evoking a sense of organic life.
Born in Beirut, Lebanon, Vilder lived in Paris, La Havre, and Casablanca, between 1948 and 1957. In 1957, he immigrated to Montreal where he studied art at Sir George Williams College from 1959 to 1961 and pedagogics, the theory and practice of learning, at McGill University until 1965. He has taught sculpture for thirty years at various universities across North America. He currently lives and works between Paris, Nîmes, and Montreal.
Since the 1960s, Vilder has been exploring movement through motorized mechanics, algorithmic animations, and computer drawings from which serial sculptures and prints are drawn. Vilder uses simple geometry to express his observations about the world. His work often explores patterns and cycles that illustrate processes of change and the formal qualities of space, colour, form, and movement. Vilder was an early participant in digital artmaking techniques. His use of computers allowed him to create geometric assemblages that were not mechanically feasible, and which could be manipulated to create repetitive and continuous optical effects that mimicked the natural rhythms of the environment. In 1973, Vilder participated in the production of one of the first computer drawings at the Canadian Meteorological Centre. He then used these images to produce serial sculptures and graphic works.
His works have been exhibited extensively throughout Canada, the United States, and Europe and are held in collections at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montreal, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the Kunstmuseen Krefeld, Germany. Furthermore, Vilder is a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and the Kepes Association of Budapest, Hungary.