Kent Tate

Vancouver artist Ken Tate’s ambitious provocative mixed-media installation, *The Stalker* will be on view at the Contemporary Art Gallery until September 24th. Tate’s installation transforms the gallery space by situating a translucent striding polar bear and a monolithic rock structure in a dimly-lit environment. A sensation of Arctic night is created by having the walls of the gallery painted entirely black. A dull glow emanates from the bear and the rock (the only two light sources except for muted spotlights). Mounds of coarse salt, mimicking snowdrifts, are swept up against the walls of the gallery and the objects placed on the painted white floor.

Tate’s current installation demonstrates his skillful handling of materials and the continuing development of his distinct, sardonic critique of the West's post-industrial collapse. Cut into the rock structure facing the bear is the once ubiquitous “Reddy Kilowatt” symbol — a grinning cartoonish character with a lightning bolt body representative of the unfettered industrial expansion of mid 20th century America. *Lightning Rods*, seven foot long burnt spears rest against the giant rock. Tate’s bear, *The Outlaw*, narrowly missed by one of the spears, is presented here as a creature of the oil industries’ “last frontier.”

Essay: "The Stalker," Merike Talve

At the centre of a dark room, there is a glowing sculpture of a polar bear. A long spear with text is embedded into the rock formation it sits on. In the background, a white wall is faintly visible. 

thumbnail_01-KentTate-1988.jpeg

01-KentTate-1988.jpeg

A closeup of 3 spears resting against a rock sculpture. Their points are a pearly white, attached by orange wire. On their hilts, the spears have rock texture reading "Shell," "Exxon," and "BP." 

thumbnail_02-KentTate-1988.jpeg

02-KentTate-1988.jpeg

On one side of a dark room, there is a glowing polar bear sculpture, and a faux stone wall with 3 spears resting against it. The wall shows a lit up character with a lightning bolt body on the other.

thumbnail_03-KentTate-1988.jpeg

03-KentTate-1988.jpeg

A polar bear sculpture in a dark room is placed to appear to be walking towards a faw stone wall. The wall has a glowing, smiling cartoonish character on it, as well as 3 large spears resting on it. 

thumbnail_04-KentTate-1988.jpeg

04-KentTate-1988.jpeg

The Stalker

This booklet, published by the Contemporary Art Gallery in 1988, accompanied the exhibition, Kent Tate: *The Stalker* at the Contemporary Art Gallery, August 30 – September 24, 1988, and includes an essay by Merike Talve.

Kent Tate

Exhibitions

Publications & Editions