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Contemporary Art Gallery

555 Nelson Street
Vancouver, Canada
Closed for installation
until June 7, 2024

Admission always free
ArchiveExhibition
10 May 91until8 Jun 91

Yellow Peril: Reconsidered

Taki Bluesinger, Melanie Boyle, Anthony Chan, Benjamin Chou, Richard Fung, Jay Hirabayashi, Roy Kiyooka, Nobuo Kubota, L’Amitie Chinoise de Montreal, Laiwan, Daisy Lee, Helen Lee, Brenda Joy Lem, Lui/Samwald, Chi Chung Mak, Nhan Nguyen, Marlin Oliveros, Midi Onodera, Chick Rice, Ruby Truly, Henry Tsang, Tamio Wakayama, Jim Wong-Chu, Jin-me Yoon and Sharyn Yuen

555 Hamilton St

A closeup of a colour photo in a white frame, on a white wall. The photo shows a person standing on the steps of a grey, single-story house, with a small telephone pole just on the side of their lawn.

Yellow Peril: Reconsidered is a national touring exhibition or contemporary Canadian film, video and photo-based artwork that reflects an Asian new world consciousness. The exhibition of twenty five artists includes Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Vietnamese—Canadians. The artists featured in this exhibition are: Taki Bluesinger, Melanie Boyle, Anthony Chan, Benjamin Chou, Richard Fung, Jay Hirabayashi, Roy Xiyooka, Nobuo Kubota, L'Amitié Chinoise de Montréal, Laiwan, Daisy Lee, Helen Lee, Brenda Joy Lem, Lui Samwald, Chi Chung Mak, Nhan Nguyen, Marlin Oliveros. Midi Onodera, Chick Rice, Ruby Truly, Henry Tsang, Tamio Wakayama, Jim Wong-Chu, Jin-me Yoon and Sharyn Yuen.

The exhibition curated by Paul Wong and circulated by On Edge opens September 8, 1990 at Oboro Gallery in Montreal. In addition to the exhibition will be the release of a 72 page publication that will include commissioned essays and artists pages. This important publication will present new critical analysis in an area of artistic concern that up to now has been overlooked by the dominant culture.

The purpose of this show is to present these new and challenging works, to move them from a position of marginality and to place them in the forefront of attention. This exhibition will provide alternative, more accurate views of Asian artists. The (not so) exotic seen from the point of view of the (not so) exotic becomes familiar.

Yellow Peril: Reconsidered brings together for the first time in Canada a broad range of artistic, social and community concerns by Asian­ Canadian artists. Formalist, experimental and documentary art by both emerging and mature artists. More traditional media are shunned in favour of the tools of mass media and popular culture: film, video and photo-based forms. These media are often accepted as the media of truth. What is often ignored is that the truth of popular media is selective truth. Contemporary art practices and criticism more often than not is a narrow view of what is actually being created, produced and discussed. Much of the work in Yellow Peril grapples with the notion of truth. Whose voices are not being often heard? This provocative exhibition confronts assumptions.

Guest curated by Paul Wong

A gallery with several framed works mounted on the walls. In the centre of the room, there is a table-like form with a narrow, glossy top. It is resting on 5 sets of A-shaped wooden table legs.
Black text a black shelf with 3 open books on the wall of a gallery. The text reads "(im)permanent (re)collection." On the floor, there is a black filing cabinet with lights and photo transparencies.
A gallery with framed black and white photos mounted on one wall, and photo prints on textured paper hanging on the other. On the floor, there is a long table-like form with a narrow, glossy top.
Six photos in black frames displayed on a white wall. The photos show people in different spaces doing a variety of things - some are walking down a stretch of highway, some are selling vessels.
3 artworks in a gallery. Two of those are groups of photos mounted on paper with small pieces of writing next to them. The other is a small, house-like wood structure holding a tall stack of paper.
Two artworks in a gallery space. One is a small, vertical, house-shaped wood structure holding a tall stack of papers. The other is a colour photo of a person on the steps of a small grey house.
A closeup of 4 different metal frames with black and white in them. The frames and photos both vary in size, and they show different festivities. One frame has 4 photos of a taiko drumming ceremony.
A closeup of a colour photo in a white frame, on a white wall. The photo shows a person standing on the steps of a grey, single-story house, with a small telephone pole just on the side of their lawn.
A gallery with several framed works mounted on the walls. In the centre of the room, there is a table-like form with a narrow, glossy top. It is resting on 5 sets of A-shaped wooden table legs.
Black text a black shelf with 3 open books on the wall of a gallery. The text reads "(im)permanent (re)collection." On the floor, there is a black filing cabinet with lights and photo transparencies.
A gallery with framed black and white photos mounted on one wall, and photo prints on textured paper hanging on the other. On the floor, there is a long table-like form with a narrow, glossy top.
Six photos in black frames displayed on a white wall. The photos show people in different spaces doing a variety of things - some are walking down a stretch of highway, some are selling vessels.
3 artworks in a gallery. Two of those are groups of photos mounted on paper with small pieces of writing next to them. The other is a small, house-like wood structure holding a tall stack of paper.
Two artworks in a gallery space. One is a small, vertical, house-shaped wood structure holding a tall stack of papers. The other is a colour photo of a person on the steps of a small grey house.
A closeup of 4 different metal frames with black and white in them. The frames and photos both vary in size, and they show different festivities. One frame has 4 photos of a taiko drumming ceremony.