Taking the Practical out of Sweaters and Quilts

Kerry James Marshall, "Better Homes, Better Gardens," 1994

I started 2011 with a trip to the Vancouver Art Gallery. It was the second to last day of the Kerry James Marshall exhibit, I was over my post-Christmas flu and had no commitments for the day – the perfect day to validate the membership my mom gave me. While it was Marshall that brought me to the VAG I was pleasantly surprised by other exhibits.

The Vancouver Art Gallery has a large collection of local contemporary art as well as some international gems. Everything Everyday pulls items from their collection that explore everyday actions, items and encounters. The press release states “Despite the presupposed banal nature of the subject matter, the artists in this exhibition manage to provoke surprising and poetic interpretations of the everyday in their work.” I would have to agree, the mundane are give a chance to shine here. The textile freak that I am, I was immediately drawn to Aganetha Dyck‘s Eaton triplets.  As with the triplets included in the exhibit, Dyck’s items often reflect domestic activity. Not only do the items refer to domesticity but the process itself does – they are shrunken, very shrunken.

Liz Magor, Hollow

The top floor of the Vancouver Art Gallery is always reserved for Emily Carr. After numerous school field trips and countless visits I have come to dread the top floor. It is not that I don’t appreciate her work, just that I have seen it so many times the joy is gone. Well, I suspect I’m not alone here because they have mixed things up. While the top floor is still an homage to the West Coast painter the current show “In Dialogue with Carr” brings in four contemporary BC artists and pairs their works with items from the gallery’s extensive Carr collection. Much to my delight not all of the pairings were paintings. Sculptor Liz Magor responds more to Carr’s life than her work so her installation is surrounded by photographs of Carr’s life and studio. One of my favorite local celebrities, Douglas Coupland couples five excentric Canadian quilts with ceramic chachkis that Emily Carr modeled after first nations carvings. The author of Generation X has also scripted a mock radio interview between himself and the recluse painter which plays as you pass through the gallery. Never have I been so happy to make the journey to the Carr floor. Thank you Daina Augaitis for making me re-apreciate  the life of this odd painter.

Emily Carr with friends and caravan “Elephant” on sketching trip, 1934

More Emily on the Web

• Emily Carr on wiki
• Image gallery
• Emily Carr sculpture with dog and monkey

Related on the Web

• Douglas Coupland’s Generation X Neo-logisms
• Kerry James Marshall on The Art Monitor
• Atmosphere Interviews Liz Magor

 

A great week for Vancouver Art Gallery events

There are certain perks to working in an art gallery, in the last week I have had the opportunity to enjoy some of those little extras. Last Friday I had the extreme pleasure of attending Kerry James Marshall and Fiona Tan’s opening at the Vancouver Art Gallery.  I first encountered Marshall’s works a few years ago through the PBC series Art:21 and was ecstatic to hear that the VAG would be featuring his paintings.    

Kerry James Marshall, Many Mansions, 1994

Vancouver is a multicultural city but it does not have a large black community and rarely do I encountered art about black identity in the city. Not only does Marshall’s work help fill this void it addressed it directly. From his first childhood experiences with art museums he was aware of an absence of black representation. Through his understanding of art systems Marshall constructed paintings intended to draw the eye of museums, and that they did. With the art establishments’ recognition and inclusion of his work in their collections his works sussed in both bringing to attention the lack of black representation and critiquing the institutions from within.    

Now I must confess that I was so in awe of Kerry James Marshall’s works and having the chance to meet him in person that I did not give Fiona Tan’s exhibition the time or attention that it deserves. I did wander through the second floor exhibit with my colleague Lili Vieira de Carvalho where we had the serenity of having the floor to ourselves.  The quiet of the empty galleries heightened the experience of Tan’s moving images, in particular the VAG commissioned piece Rise and Fall.  Of the two channel video projection the VAG’s website states    

The new work, Rise and Fall, was filmed in Niagara Falls, Belgium and the Netherlands, constructing a narrative of isolation, loss and dislocation by using water as an evocative metaphor for the memories of a woman’s life.      

  As my background lies primarily in painting I often find video and performance art more challenging. from my brief viewing of Rise and Fall I look forward to returning to give her works the time and reflection they deserve. Be it painting, video or music I always believe that one of the best marks of successful art are the lingering thoughts and images that come back to haunt ones daily routine, Rise and Fall has been haunting me. This video clip does not do the piece justice but I’m struggling to find the way to express the sensitivity, intimacy and isolation of the piece so it will have to suffice. If you have the opportunity, go see it in person.  
  

Fiona Tan, Rise and Fall, 2009

Audain Prize & VIVA Awards 

The second perk came in form of attending the Audain Prize & VIVA Awards also at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Held Wednesday, May 12th the event was open to the public but chances are if you aren’t part of the art community you didn’t know about it. Artists, dealers, collectors, curators and enthusiasts gathered to recognize Robert Davidson, the 2010 recipient of the Audain Prize of Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts, and Marina Roy and Germaine Koh who were presented with VIVA Awards granted by The Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation.

Marina Roy was one of my instructors at UBC. Although I only had one class with her, third year art theory, her class and carefully selected readings had a tremendous impact on my practice. UBC’s fine arts department is very theory heavy and I struggled with this for some time – my three-year break from UBC was partially due to this inner conflict. It was through Marina’s class that I was able to incorporate theory and stronger conceptual elements into my work in a manner that was comfortable and fitting. I was thrilled and honored to see Marina receive this recognition and congratulate her in person. It was also a treat to see Barrie Jones, my former photography instructor who spent may an afternoon talking me through various photographic challenges.  

On a side note, I swapped business cards with Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson! I feel the need to point out that Gregor Robertson is radically increasing Vancouver’s coolness factor. I know that its frivolous and un-important in light of his work with green issues and homelessness  in Vancouver but the man oozes charm and confidence. How many city’s can boast such a handsome Mayor whos gone from med-school hopeful to cowboy, to farmer, to Happy Planet organic juice so-founder, to politician? I’ll admit I don’t know the stats but I’m going to guess Vancouver might be the only one. 

Gregor Robertson photographed by Lili Vieira de Carvalho