Brian Jungen

Brian Jungen is a Vancouver artist who is quickly gaining a strong national reputation as one of Canada's most promising younger artists. He has been invited to exhibit across the coun­try and the National Gallery of Canada recently purchased a major piece for their permanent collection. Jungen is noted for using common everyday objects as source material for remarkably inventive works of art. Examples include disassembling Nike Air Jordan training shoes and reconfiguring them into startling simulations of Northwest Coast Indian masks, and constructing an enormous, suspended whale skeleton from cut-up plastic deck chairs. 

For the Contemporary Art Gallery, Jungen will be presenting a sculptural installation in the Alvin Balkind Gallery. It will con­sist of an arrangement of pallets, the kind used for moving and storing warehouse materials. Such pallets are usually made of cheap materials, designed for purely utilitarian functions, and considered disposable, often ending up as firewood. Jungen's pallets, however, are constructed from the finest quality cedar, their surfaces sanded to a smooth finish, and then carefully pegged together rather than nailed. These sculptures retain the visual imprint of industrial pallets, yet are simultaneously transformed into highly aesthetic objects that recall the clean economy of Minimalist art from the 1960s. This work, while visually different from his previous projects, is consistent with Jungen's practice of exploring the edge between objects whose -purpose is utilitarian and objects whose purpose is for display.

This exhibition is sponsored by Astro Graphic Industries Ltd. and Benjamin Moore Paints (Dunbar, Kerrisdale, and Richmond). 

Essay: "Shapeshifter," Scott Watson

A stack of wood pieces, which look like large duckboards, is installed in a gallery space. They are identical in shape and size. This close-up photograph shows only the top five boards on this stack. 

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An unpainted wooden tunnel is built in front of CAG’s window spaces. It resembles construction hoardings. The title of this work is “Unlimited Growth Increases The Divide.”

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This is a close-up view of Brian Jungen’s installation resembling construction hoardings. Many posters are attached to the surface. A flier about a concert and a photograph is visible in this image. 

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This is Brian Jungen’s installation resembling construction hoardings. Wood tiles with some small windows cover the tunnel. Some trees are planted in front of this installation.

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A stack of ten wood pieces, which look like large duckboards, is installed in the middle of a gallery space. They are identical in shape and size. None of them are painted. 

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This image depicts the inside view of Brian Jungen’s installation that resembles construction hoardings. Fliers, many of them are duplicates, cover the unpainted wood surface of the tunnel.

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This exhibition catalogue was published in 2001 by the Contemporary Art Gallery on the occasion of Brian Jungen's exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery, July 28 – September 23, 2001. The catalogue includes essays by Scott Watson and Lindsay Brown with a foreword by Keith Wallace.

Brian Jungen

Exhibitions

Publications & Editions