Ron Huebner (Edmonton 1959 - Amsterdam 2004) was an innovative, conceptual artist who primarily dealt with three dimensional form. For over twenty years he was passionately engaged in the creation of a distinctive body of work grounded in a focused and personalized vision of the human experience. The work was consistent and enduring, resonating with a timeless sensibility that transcended popular techniques, materials and/or art trends. Over twenty years expositions were realized in both North America and Europe. There was always a gravitation to showcasing the work in venues representing alternative perspectives with a focus on showcasing experimental development.

The extensive oeuvre of work that emerged was and continues to be intellectually complex, authentic and truthful. Huebner was a traveler into the psyche using art as the mode of transportation. While the journey was personal, the work resonates universally. From installations that activated the senses through sound, temperature and/or materials, to small intimate hand-held objects - the physical manifestation of conceptual ideas was always highly original and contextually meaningful. Huebner was a strong, silent Canadian cultural voice that created a body of memorable work reflecting both a personal trajectory as well as responses to his surrounding sociocultural environment.

Huebner’s formative arts education took place in North America; Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Camosun College, British Columbia, NSCAD, Halifax, and Empire State College and The Cooper Union, New York. He was mentored by individuals such as John Greer, Hans Haacke, Hugh Leroy, Dara Birnbaum and Dennis Oppenheim, to name but a few. While living in New York he worked as an assistant to Oppenheim which became a lifelong and influential relationship.

In 1984 Huebner went overseas to attend the highly regarded post academic institute for creative research and production, the Jan Van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, Netherlands. Working independently in a studio environment with access to facilities, materials and other like-minded creatives, time spent at JVE were pivotal in Huebner’s development, as it presented the circumstances for concentrated exploration and experimentation, and importantly, direct access to participation in the European cultural experience.

Over subsequent years Huebner challenged himself with the production of solo and group expositions in both Canada and overseas. He not only felt stymied but professionally ostracized by various influential players in the British Columbian Arts community that were primarily focused on supporting and providing representation for photo-based work, to the exclusion of others producing alternative work at the time. Finding the cultural climate and international context of Europe to be more supportive of his endeavors led to Huebner’s eventual decision in the mid 90’s to maintain a studio base in Amsterdam.

It is difficult to discuss the oeuvre of work without understanding the nature of the artist. Huebner was passionately consumed by his visions and the commitment to realize them, which often came at personal compromise. The body of work created is in it’s entirety extensive and strong, simple yet sophisticated with an undeniable thread of consistency and quality. Huebner used a variety of materials and methods in the realization of ideas, always primarily focused on, and concerned with, the development of the underlying concept integral to the intention of the work. As a conceptual artist he was not slave to a particular technique or methodology of visual production.

Throughout his professional career Huebner was not interested in ‘fashionable art trends and/or associated cliques’ but focused on his own creative development and voice - often placing himself ‘out there’... sometimes precariously, referring to himself as though a vehicle, “a transmitter / receiver for investigating the surrounding world.” While there were those at the time that did not fully understood the scope, sincerity and true distinctiveness of the work... others connected and were deeply moved by it and continue to be.

Huebner envisioned life as he described... “one long moment... that moment of silence which lies like a twilight in between the darkness and the light.” In a 1994 review of ‘The Greyhound Series’ solo exhibition at St. Mary’s University Art Gallery, Halifax John Greer wrote: “No matter how I weave Ron’s work together, stringing piece with piece, regardless of their chronology, the work comes with the same refrain; it never fails, and it never tires… Ron deals with common humanity. He is not interested in the petty and the trivial.”

Found in the work is a great sense of urgency, but also a great sense of contemplation. It is this powerful dynamic that makes the work and artist extraordinarily and historically memorable.Tragically Ron Huebner passed away March 1, 2004 from major injuries sustained from a vehicular accident while cycling home in Amsterdam.

In a Spring 2014 Canadian Arts Magazine feature article titled ‘Internal Flame / The Once and Future Sculpture of Ron Huebner’ writer Robin Peck unknowingly ended with the statement - “Huebner’s oeuvre still remains largely undocumented, uncollected and scattered, each piece now more isolated, each now better than ever. “ At the time little did Peck realize that in fact all of Huebner’s work was in the process of and has since been well documented, with a substantial body of work remaining intact and currently being maintained by the Archives.

Krista Kilvert

The Ron Huebner Legacy Collection + Archives