Ruben Zellermayer

BIOGRAPHY

Born in Israel, Ruben Zellermayer and his family relocated to Canada in 1957. He began his pursuit in arts at the age of seventeen with wood carvings. For the last fifty seven years, Zellermayer has been creating sculpture out of wood, steel, aluminum, and bronze; sometimes even adding in found metal objects. His subject matter can be playful, as well as have a heavy lean towards abstraction, as his foundational practice took place during the 1960s and 70s. Zellermayer explores and plays with the subject of fruit, vegetables and even fast food by exaggerating their mass to supersize proportions in metal and vibrant colours. The figurative form frequently surfaces in his sculptures as he enjoys
blurring the lines between realism and abstraction. Often the figures are twisted, simplified into geometrics, and even stacked on top of eachother. This body of work led to a commission of an 18 foot bronze sculpture that was placed outside the Lodzer Centre Holocaust Synagogue and Museum in Toronto, which commemorated the Holocaust and its victims of the Nazis.
His education includes a four-year art program at Northern Secondary School – Toronto; a study of casting methods in bronze at the Noack Foundry – Berlin, Germany (the studio of Henry Moore); studies at Einhud Institute – Haifa; Metal Fabrication studies at Lion Metalworks – Toronto; and Art History at the University of Toronto, Ontario. Renowned sculptor, Zellermayer currently lives and works in Hamilton, ON.