-
It was, like, a super long time ago that ppl were here, right? by Sonny Assu, 2016, digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Cumshewa, 1912). Photo courtesy of artist.
-
Yeah… Shit’s about to go sideways. I’ll take you to Amerind. You’ll like it, looks like home by Sonny Assu, 2016, digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Cape Mudge: An Indian Family with Totem Pole, 1912). Photo courtesy of artist.
-
Spaced Invaders by Sonny Assu, 2016, digital intervention on an Emily Carr painting (Heina, 1928). Photo courtesy of artist.
-
Octavia & Lick by Walter Scott, 2016, acrylic and coloured pencil on paper, courtesy of the artist. Photo by Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery.
-
Mathematics by Elizabeth McIntosh, 2015, flashe and oil on canvas, collection of TD Bank Group. Photo by Toni Hafkenscheid, courtesy of Diaz Contemporary.
-
Author’s Preface by Raymond Boisjoly, 2015, ink jet prints, wheat paste, courtesy of the artist and Catriona Jeffries Gallery. Photo by Aurélien Mole, Triangle France.
-
Skirted Baroque by Lyse Lemieux, 2015, custom wood frame, acrylic, ink, wool felt on paper, wool tartan skirt, courtesy of the artist. Photo by Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery.
-
Autogram (Double 2) by Ryan Peter, 2016, unique gelatin silver print, courtesy of the artist. Photo by Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery.
-
The Scarecrow’s Holiday by Tamara Henderson, textile, wood, glass, sand, pigment, courtesy of the artist and Rodeo, London. Photo by Robert Wedemeyer, courtesy of China Art Objects.
Sonny Assu and Vancouver Special at the Vancouver Art Gallery
Two new exhibits open at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
From December 3, 2016 to April 17, 2017, the Vancouver Art Gallery will feature the inaugural edition of its new triennial in the form of exhibit Vancouver Special: Ambivalent Pleasures, which strives to document the development of Vancouver’s contemporary art scene and the shifts it has undergone since the 2010 Winter Olympics.
In order to co-curate the exhibit, Vancouver Art Gallery’s chief curator/associate director Daina Augaitis and guest curator Jesse McKee, head of strategy at 221A, conducted over 90 studio visits in a four-month span, familiarizing themselves deeply with the city’s multigenerational community of emerging and established artists. While the works on display are diverse, ranging from pieces that engage with surrealism and the grotesque to abstracts and conceptual films, they are unified by a sense of place. The exhibit thereby allows viewers to encounter the familiar and consider their own perceptions of the city through the lenses of local artists, including Maya Beaudry, Tamara Henderson, Garry Neill Kennedy, Tristan Unrau, and Alison Yip, whose site-specific installation transforms the gallery’s neo-classical rotunda into a surreal gazebo.
Also opening December 3 (to April 23, 2017) is We Come to Witness from Ligwilda’xw Kwakwaka’wakw interdisciplinary artist Sonny Assu’s ongoing body of work Interventions on The Imaginary. In this series, Assu, a graduate of Emily Carr University, transposes digital tags overtop Emily Carr paintings selected from the gallery’s collection, infusing a traditional narrative with contemporary energy. His hypercharged form-line and ovoid shapes hover like spacecraft; visitors from another dimension bursting into Carr’s earth-toned world in vivid graffiti hues of orange, purple, and teal. The exhibition also includes new sculptural works from Assu, and a special collaboration with ceramic artist Brendan Tang.
