Judy Radul

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Vancouver based artist Judy Radul. *Vancouver Costume* will utilize the Gallery's street front windows as a display space.

Exploring the concept of the theatrical, Radul's practice has undergone a shift from a performance base to one in which aspects of public interaction are documented and displayed. She is interested in the peripheral and supplementary aspects of theatre: the sets, props and costumes used to stage a play. The concept of the rehearsal is of particular interest, as an activity that is and is not a performance.

For her exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery Radul will display a number of costumes based on her research into styles of contemporary dress the artist has witnessed in and around Vancouver. Using thrift and secondhand stores as an archive of found clothing, Radul has assembled a number of outfits that will be displayed in the Gallery's street front vitrines. Radul composes these costumes based on a suggestive ambiguity, and therefore theatrical potential.

### Biography

Radul studied at Simon Fraser University and completed her MFA at Bard College, New York. She has staged performance works at the ICA, London and Elba Guest Atelier, Holland, and has been included in recent exhibitions at The Vancouver Art Gallery and Presentation House Gallery. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at the Or Gallery, Vancouver and Truck Gallery, Calgary. She is a widely published critical writer, and in 1999 was a recipient of a VIVA award. She teaches at Simon Fraser University.

Various outfits are displayed in CAG’s window spaces. Above the installation of a dark-coloured outfit, there is a red text that says “The Gerardo 36, 4 minutes, A city in Austria.” 

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In CAG’s window spaces, various outfits are displayed. The window that is closest to the entrance displays a piece of black gown-like shaped clothes, which has a yellow circular pattern on its chest.

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Various outfits are displayed in CAG’s window spaces. Some of those displayed outfits include a mustard yellow jacket, wine-red dress, and black gown-like shaped clothes.

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A pink robe is installed in one of CAG’s window spaces. The red text above the installation reads, “Tatyana, 28, 1.5 minutes, A garden.”

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Various outfits are displayed in CAG’s window spaces. The window which is closest to the camera displays a pair of grey sweatpants and a sweatshirt. 

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Various outfits are displayed in CAG’s window spaces. Some of those displayed outfits include a mustard yellow jacket, a pair of grey sweatpants and a sweatshirt. 

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Vancouver Costume

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to present a new installation by Vancouver artist Judy Radul. This exhibition is presented as a component of the *Live at the End of the Century: Performance Art in Vancouver*, a month-long festival, coordinated by the Grunt Gallery, celebrating Vancouver's long history of performance art.

Judy Radul has been exhibiting since 1983. In recent years, Radul's performances, videos and installations have been seen at the Vancouver Art Gallery; Or Gallery, Vancouver; Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff; YYZ Artists' Outlet, Toronto; and the Institute for Contemporary Art in London, England. She is one of Canada's most respected innovators in the area of performance art. Radul incorporates a cross-over of performance, visual and video art in a way that challenges their autonomy as distinct practices, and extends their boundaries.

With *Rehearsal*, Radul transforms the gallery into a theatrical environment that animates the neutrality of the formal gallery space and blurs the lines between performance and a static exhibition. Using performance/theatre as a model, Radul has created a mock set that includes a stage, curtains and video to create a tension between the idea of a set and its inhabitation or desertion. It functions as a meeting place constructed to explore different conventions of viewing related to the gallery, the theatre and the cinema. Of interest to Radul is the role of the audience and the mechanics of looking and being observed, of exploring illusion and the fantasy of illusion and activating a space through the presence of people. The installation, in essence, exists metaphorically as a rehearsal for an imagined performance.


A small round table and a wooden chair are on a corner of the theatre stage. A red botanical-patterned tablecloth covers the table, on which a vintage wine glass and a book are placed.

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A wooden bench and chairs are placed in the corner of a gallery space. A video piece is projected on a white panel that is placed on a small step stool at the corner of the room.  

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A wooden skinny barrel, stool, chair, two books, and a ceramic coffee mug are placed on the gallery floor. A black dial phone and a dynamite bundle are placed on top of the stool. 

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A theatre stage is set in a gallery space. A dark body of water is depicted in the stage background. Four chairs, a stool, and a table are placed on the stage distanced from each other. 

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Six wooden chairs, three stools. a bench, a bucket, and two ladders are placed on the gallery floor distanced from each other. A large piece of yellow textile is hanging from one of the ladder steps. 

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A tall wooden step ladder is placed in the middle of a gallery space. A yellow and red curtain, with a white layer underneath, are folded and hung from one of the ladder steps. 

Judy Radul

Exhibitions