This 20′ high, stainless steel fountain sculpture was created by George Norris and installed in front of the Vancouver Museum/Planetarium in 1968. According to the artist, it represents the First Nations legend of the crab as the guardian of the harbour and was also the zodiac sign at the time of the Canadian Centennial.
I’ve always been very impressed with this sculpture, its siting and Norris’ vision of this entertaining interplay of water with the metal representation of a crab. As a painter, I’ve always been drawn to the challenges of rendering different surfaces, so I couldn’t resist getting in close and taking on all this stainless steel along with some of the surrounding concrete, water, wood and a bit of bronze. A true pleasure to paint.
On a sad note for me, the original painting has gone missing. I sometimes used to ask friends to store my canvases for me but, somehow, I completely lost track of this original. If anyone happens to see this painting hanging around, please contact me. Thanks.