CONSTRUCTION SITES: IDENTITY AND PLACE
Diyan Achjadi // Rebecca Belmore // Therese Bolliger // Dana Claxton // Allyson Clay // Andy Fabo // Leon Golub // Angela Grossmann // Shelagh Keeley // Jim Logan // Ken Lum // Takashi Murakami // Nhan Duc Nguyen // Manuel Pina // Philippe Raphanel // Brendan Lee Satish Tang // Jeff Thomas // Henry Tsang // Jin-me Yoon // Sharyn Yuen
Central Gallery
October 18 to December 31, 2010
Curated by Craig Willms, Annette Hurtig
The Construction Sites: Identity and Place exhibition presents works by contemporary artists who investigate and reflect on the social construction of identity and the production of social space. Made over the past several decades, the works in the exhibition respond to developments in feminist, gender, queer and postcolonial theories. The exhibition concept takes a cue from Henri Lefebvre’s thinking about alienation and modernity, the nature of society, and social revolution as a revolution in everyday life. In his writing Lefebrve speaks about producing one’s life as one would a work. Might we likewise produce our own identity? Or is identity determined by society? And, with the dramatic mobility of information, goods and people aimed for by corporate globalization strategies, what is the relationship between our identity and the places we inhabit?
HAPA FAMILY
Jana Sasaki
Central Gallery
September 18 to November 6, 2010
Curated by Craig Willms, Kamloops Art Gallery
This body of work by Jana Sasaki explores experiences and memories of ‘mixed’ cultural upbringing in Canada. It reflects upon the experience of being half Japanese and investigates how people of mixed cultural heritage view themselves and are viewed by others, an experience relevant to more and more Canadians.In particular, Sasaki is interested in words such as hapa andhafu that are increasingly used to define mixed cultures. The word hafu is used in Japanese to refer to somebody who is ethnically half Japanese. The label emerged in the 1970s in Japan and is now the most commonly used label and preferred term of self-definition. The word hafu comes from the English word ’half,’ indicating half foreign-ness. Hapa is slang for a person of mixed ethnic heritage with partial roots in Asian and/or Pacific Islander ancestry.
CURATOR’S CHOICE
Kate Garrett-Petts // Melanie Perreault
The Cube
June 12 to September 11, 2010
Curated by Craig Willms, Kamloops Art Gallery
This summer marks the sixth annual exhibition of work by graduating students from Thompson Rivers University. Selected by Kamloops Art Gallery Assistant Curator Craig Willms, the works in Curator’s Choice highlight emerging talent from TRU’s Bachelor of Fine Arts 2010 graduating class. Students at TRU graduate with a wide variety of specialties, including ceramics, printmaking, sculpture, painting, photography and installation. This year’s exhibition features installations by Kate Garrett-Petts and Melanie Perreault. Like previous Curator’s Choice exhibitions, this is not so much a ‘best of’ show, but rather one united by thematic and aesthetic threads running through the work of these two emerging artists.
KLATSASSIN
Stan Douglas
Central Gallery
June 7 to September 4, 2010
Curated by Annette Hurtig
Internationally renowned Vancouver-based artist Stan Douglas has shown his work at and had it collected by prestigious institutions around the world. His photographs and projections are celebrated not only for their conceptual acuity and formal precision but also for how they continually extend the possibilities of film and video, and art itself. Klatsassin defies the official version of events leading to the Chilcotin War of 1864 by focussing on the story of a Tsilhqot’in chief who was accused of murder, tried and executed. Set in B.C.’s Cariboo-Chilcotin region, it depicts events related to gold rush efforts to build a road through Tsilhqot’in territory to the gold fields and the First Nations insurgency in response. Current events in the region echo those of the earlier conflict between aboriginal and colonialist interests. Klatsassin is composed of three elements: a filmic projection, a series of photographic portraits of characters from the film, and a series of landscape or location photographs.
TRUTH OR FICTION?
Doug Buis // Rodney Graham // Kent Monkman // Carol Sawyer // Camille Turner
Central Gallery
April 6 to May 22, 2010
The group exhibition TRUTH or FICTION? brings together various sorts of contemporary art by five contributing artists from near and far: Doug Buis (Knutsford/Kamloops), Rodney Graham (Vancouver), Kent Monkman (Toronto), Carol Sawyer (Vancouver) and Camille Turner (Toronto). The gathered art works share certain attributes: they refer to history and historical narratives, past, present and future; they include historical figures, but also little known, dubious and perhaps fictional characters; and, despite being about the past, present and future, they are more interested in representation than in mimesis—rather than mimic reality they represent it, with all its ambiguities and uncertainties.
HOW TO GET THINGS DONE
Jordan Schwab
The Cube
April 3 to May 22, 2010
How to Get Things Done explores our constructed environment. Jordan Schwab’s sculptures resemble architectural models, but instead of completed structures they show partially completed projects. The sculptures, drawings and photos in this exhibition capture constructions in progress. The depicted work sites are in transition. Artworks might be plans for future projects or documentation of past endeavours. Other objects are devices temporarily utilised to assist the building process and improve the efficiency of labour. Frame walls stand bare on a garage renovation. The wood shell of a hotel on stilts is not yet completed. Schwab explores the engineering of these labour saving devices and their efficiency in the process of construction.
TWO VISIONS
Emily Carr // Jack Shadbolt
Central Gallery
January 23 to March 21, 2010
Two Visions: Emily Carr and Jack Shadbolt examines the important relationship between two of British Columbia’s most celebrated artists. Carr’s paintings and sketches of west coast forests and First Nations communities have shaped BC’s visual identity and continue to be deeply influential for artists in the region. Jack Shadbolt, who came to Canada as a young child, was among the artists inspired by Carr. He responded enthusiastically to British Columbia’s natural setting, which he rendered according to the modernist trends of twentieth century art. By examining points of similarity and difference between the two artists, Two Visions reveals Shadbolt’s struggle to find a unique artistic voice, while acknowledging Carr’s influential role in the art of this province. The exhibition also celebrates Shadbolt’s significant contribution to Canadian painting on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
ALONG THOSE LINES
Megs Waterous // Myrna Giesbrecht
The Cube
January 16 to March 21, 2010
Megs Waterous
Myrna Giesbrecht
Along Those Lines brings together two bodies of work exploring use of line. Myrna Giesbrecht’s Lingering Lines comprises textile works focussing on the horizontal line. She explores colour, form and texture through various textile techniques and presents the pieces like paintings, mounted on canvas stretchers and hung on the gallery walls. Megs Waterous’ Path of a Line consists of ceramic works in the form of wall-hung tiles and tall sculptural vessels. In these works she emphasizes flowing lines with a vertical orientation. Although both artists utilize materials basic to their individual art practices, they considered each other’s work in the development of this exhibition.