The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) has a host of new exhibitions now open and running through the summer. With the historic For All Time: The Shakespeare FIRST FOLIO coming to a close today, these new exhibitions give visitors to VAG plenty to view through to September 11, 2022.
Drawing from a wide range of works, the Gallery presents unique ways to experience its permanent collection through amplifying kids’ voices; highlighting the diversity of the collection that tell multiple histories of our time; and through the lens of an important collector and donation.
Artist: O Zhang, Horizon No. 23, No. 21 and No. 27, chromogenic print, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of the Artist
Kids Take Over captures the perspectives of elementary and high school students from Metro Vancouver, who were invited to write down their thoughts, create their own drawings and collectively move their bodies, using the artworks as inspiration to artworks by a range of artists from the Gallery’s collection, including Pitseolak Ashoona, Guud San Glans Robert Davidson, Gathie Falk, Chantal Gibson, Evan Lee, Ken Lum, Annie Pootoogook, Evelyn Roth, Brendan Lee Satish Tang, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and Zhang O, among many others. The Gallery’s rotunda and alcoves have been transformed into dynamic interactive spaces that will feature regular programming for families and kids, including a workshop for teens led by artist Chantal Gibson. Kids Take Over engages with children and youth to highlight their creativity—while cultivating a future generation of artists and art lovers. The exhibition is affiliated with the Kids in Museums’ Takeover Day initiative.
YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, CHARLIE CHAN AND THE YELLOW PERIL, 2020, video, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Acquisition Fund
RESTLESS: Recent Acquisitions features nine recent acquisitions that reflect the exhibition and collecting program of the Gallery’s Institute of Asian Art. The exhibition title refers to the underlying sense of movement reverberating through the featured artworks—whether through geographical shifts due to travel and migration or urban landscapes changing over time. It also speaks to radically altering perspectives and structural paradigms: the widespread decentring or repositioning of power currently coursing around the globe.
Untitled, 2015, 2 Van Dyke prints, Dimensions variable (65 x 49 cm each), Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft
Everything Under the Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft pays tribute to the late art collector Andrew Gruft (1937–2021), whose generosity and support over the past two decades have been crucial to the development of the Vancouver Art Gallery’s collection of photographs. The exhibition features local, national and international lens-based artists and includes a broad selection of artwork from both historical and contemporary periods. Featured artists include Eugène Atget, Anne Brigman, Karin Bubaš, Becky Cohen, Robert Frank, Helen Levitt, Oriol Maspons, Gabriel Orozco, Issei Suda and William Henry Fox Talbot, among others.
Everything Under The Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft is one of Capture Photography Festival’s Selected Exhibitions for 2022. As part of the Capture Speaker Series, join Grant Arnold, Audain Curator of British Columbia Art, and Sophie Hackett, Curator of Photography at the Art Gallery of Ontario, on April 26, 6 pm to 7 pm. Register for the event and find more information at vanartgallery.bc.ca/events/capture-speaker-series-2022-arnold-hackett
“The Vancouver Art Gallery collection is an unparalleled resource that preserves the cultural history of British Columbia through a diversity of artworks and forms. The Gallery researches, cares for and presents the collection on behalf of the public as a legacy for future generations,” states CEO and Director Anthony Kiendl, “through these activities, we create new knowledge and contribute to the quality of life in British Columbia.”