Garden of Delights is a series of twelve works, of which the Art Centre owns three: Squirt, Gargle and Jet. The title of the series refers to a triptych by Hieronymus Bosch. Bosch’s work depicts cycles of creation, destruction and rebirth: Dickson picks up on these themes in his work. The organic shapes of his sculptures are reminiscent of those found in Bosch’s garden. In using electricity openly to power the fountain, Dickson combines the mechanical with the vegetal, making the piece particularly relevant at a time when technology and biology are becoming increasingly intermingled. These works are early examples of Dickson’s investigation of water as a sculptural material, a defining aspect of his practice.

John Dickson is an established Toronto-based sculptor who was born in Kingston. In 1991 he and Lyla Rye founded Nethermind, a sculptors’ collective that exhibited annually from 1991-1996, attracting considerable critical acclaim. Dickson’s work is held in numerous public collections and he has participated in international shows in the Czech Republic and Copenhagen, Denmark.