Back in the Pack
[Doublemint, used gum on wood, 30” x 100” (76cm x 254cm)]
In what I’ll take the liberty of calling his last major series of work, William spent several years creating pieces out of used gum. He was always a wonderer, in Vancouver usually “wondering” by car and randomly driving to distant cities with no purpose but to drive. In Montreal, where he did this work, it was by foot. During this time, he took up collecting thousands of pieces of chewed gum off the street to use in these works.
It’s a bit gross, but also fascinating. And made his whole apartment smell very minty fresh.
Close ups of Doublemint complete and in progress:
This is the mock up of a Chiclets pack that was never completed. I find it interesting as it shows the process and planning involved.
He sorted all the pieces he collected into pizza boxes by colour:
And a view of the work in progress of Doublemint:
Missing Pieces:
William also had plans to work with gum that was not chewed. In fact, he wanted to order large blocks of pure chicle from the sapodilla tree (traditionally used as chewing gum base) to use to create sculptures, but could not find a source to import it or money to pay for it. The bits on the street were free.