flesh and blood packed in crates

Flesh and Blood, Shary Boyle’s solo exhibition closed yesterday. It was a busy weekend with nearly 100 visitors. Today Phil Dion is fastidiously packing it up and preparing to ship the works back to Toronto. The gallery will be closed for the next two weeks. We will reopen on the  September 8, from 6-9pm with three new exhibitions To create is to relate by Corita Kent, Tale-pieces by Thomas Bewick, and Vibrantes by Federico Herrero, regular gallery hours are Wednesday to Sunday, 12-6 pm. Hope to see you soon!

Welcome Back, Lisa!

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to welcome returning staff member,  Lisa Fedorak!

BIG Smiles!

Lisa joins us now from her post as the Executive Director of  Malaspina Printmakers to take up the post of  Program Administrator.  Lisa states that; “She is thrilled to be back  and she is looking forward to all the exciting programming in the months to come”. Speaking of which, don’t forget to check out the current Shary Boyle exhibition and Ron Tran off-site before they both close on Sunday August 21st.

From the Archives – Spotlight on Elspeth Pratt: from “Bluff” to “Second Date”

It is always exciting to retrace the path of an artist you admire.

Today, the gracefulness and lightness of Elspeth Pratt’s work adorns the urban Offsite exhibition space of the VAG. It looks novel and contemporary, seemingly hand-made and whimsical but rendered in a scale that is normally out of proportion to the material.

In this blog entry, I’d like to consider Pratt’s journey towards becoming an important figure in the Vancouver art scene in relation to the CAG.

In several ways the CAG played an important role in her artistic career, being the site of her first solo exhibition. In 1985, Pratt  reflected on social commentary, urban issues, art, architecture and man-made environment through her formal sculptures.

In 1988, Robert Linsley, with assistance from the CAG, curated an exhibition of three Canadian sculptors held at Sala 1 gallery in Rome.  Among them, Elspeth Pratt would travel to Italy to present her abstract yet gestural sculptures to a European audience in an exhibition entitled “Architettura: Astrazione”.

These are not the only instances Pratt has shown work at the CAG. She also exhibited  Bluff in the gallery’s street front windows in 2007. This site-specific work commented on the lack of foresight that characterises downtown Vancouver’s residential-highrise industry. 

Currently Pratt’s name is listed among 1000 others in  the windows as a reminder of the gallery’s artistic legacy and in commemoration of their 40th anniversary.

To view a short video of the artist commenting on her work, please follow this link:

http://www.contemporaryartgallery.ca/_content/uploads/f6387c4a-4921-102c-a8fe-25f148930a79/1276800597_elpseth_final_weLg_Prog001.mov

To read a recent article on Elspeth Pratt’s work at the VAG Offsite location, please refer to:

http://www.straight.com/article-404561/vancouver/two-galleries-head-outdoors

Ksenia Cheinman

From the Archives: Letterhead

circa 1972

Wouldn't you like to get this in the mail?

Remixology Six

The illustrious panel

Jenifer Papararo, the CAG’s Curator, was recently invited to speak at an event hosted by FreshMedia. Freshmedia is an organization that celebrates and fosters alternative media sources by generating conversation and ultimately, innovation.

The event, dubbed Remixology Six, focused on media in public space, the commercialization thereof, and how to build community in light of this. Jenifer, along with Consultant Hannah Hughes, discussed A Way To Go, Ron Tran’s current Offsite Project for the CAG. Remixology’s main questions, “How do we use new and old media tools to affect public space and generate conversations? ” was especially pertinant to Ron’s work and his attempt to breath poetic humanism into the sometimes cold (or at the very least, cool) world of technology and new media.

Jenifer Papararo discussing Ron Tran's "A Way to Go"

The other panelists were Alexander Biko McNaughton, public space specialist, David Mattatall, creator of  Zoo Zhop, and Debra Zho fom Center A. Check out Center A and Vancouver New Music’s recent Co-Lab effort www.map-sense.comby Germain Koh and Gillian Jerome for another creative and sensitive use of new media. Ain’t Zeitgeist grand?

Meredith Carr, CAG Curatorial Intern

From left: Alexander Biko McNaughton, David Mattatal, Debra Zho, Hannah Hughes, and Jenifer Papararo