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Contemporary Art Gallery

555 Nelson Street
Vancouver, Canada
Open from Tuesday to
Sunday 12 pm → 6 pm

Admission always free
ArchiveExhibition
1 Apr 22until28 Aug 22

Michelle Bui

Mutable Materialism

CAG Façade and offsite at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station

A photographic work by Michelle Bui. Diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. Sparse flowers and petals are sprinkled across the picture plane.

Michelle Bui, Envelop #1, 2022. Courtesy of the artist.

Bringing both a painterly and sculptural approach to her photographic practice, Montreal-based artist Michelle Bui operates within the visual language of the still life. Working with an array of everyday, seemingly unremarkable materials, Bui creates assemblages for the camera, building alluring scenes through processes of accumulating, merging, manipulating, and resituating.

In Mutable Materialism, an exhibition presented on the CAG façade and at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station, Bui offers two new suites of images, each a reflection on the relationships between sense, sensation and desire. Whether referencing the seductive language of advertising, the tactility of the touch-screen, or the conventions of commercial packaging and display, Bui’s works engage and confuse, coaxing incongruous forms into conversation with one another to invite reflection on the ways we connect with and consume objects and images alike.

Biography

Michelle Bui is a Montreal-based artist working in photography and sculpture. Her research revolves around the inseparable conjuncture between material culture and identity, opening it to a shifted place where sensory identity can unfold. Recent solo exhibitions include Objects for an Audience, Galerie Rad Hourani, Montreal (2020); Spilled Plenitude, Franz Kaka, Toronto (2020); Centerfold, Parisian Laundry, Montreal (2019); Plein Soleil, Circa, Montreal (2019); Pool of Plenty, Galerie de l'UQAM, Montreal (2018). Her work was also included in group shows at Maison de la culture Claude-Léveillée, Montreal; Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University, Newark; Projet Pangée, Montreal; and Vu Photo, Quebec City. Bui completed her MA at Université du Québec à Montréal and at Beaux-arts de Paris, and her BFA at Concordia University.

A view of the Contemporary Art Gallery building from across the street. The windows are covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colour, indecipherable plant matter and wrinkled plastics.
An askance view of the outside of CAG. Vinyl photographs, depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appearing beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film cover the windows.
An exterior view of three of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film.
An exterior view of three of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film.
An exterior view of two of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film.
A corner view of Yaletown-Roundhouse train station covered entirely in seven large-scale, colourful still-life photographs. The images depict a variety of singular flowers with various objects.
Two large-scale still life photographs printed in vinyl cover an entire side of Yaletown-Roundhouse station. The images depict singular flowers with various objects on pink and brown backgrounds.

Acknowledgements

Michelle Bui: Mutable Materialism is produced in partnership with Capture Photography Festival. The project is co-curated by Julia Lamare, Acting Associate Curator, Contemporary Art Gallery and Chelsea Yuill, Assistant Curator, Capture Photography Festival. Works at Yaletown-Roundhouse Station are presented in partnership with the Canada Line Public Art Program – InTransit BC.

Documents

Program guidepdf821kbExhibition materialpdf104kbLarge print exhibition materialpdf186kb

Talks & Events

A photographic work by Michelle Bui. Diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. Sparse flowers and leaves are sprinkled across the picture plane.EventSaturday SessionKaren Zalamea on Michelle Bui
9 Apr 22·12:00 PMuntil1:00 PM
A photographic work by Michelle Bui. A folded white napkin, which balances a small pink round object at its top, is placed on a green textured backdrop.EventCuratorial Tourwith Chelsea Yuill
20 Apr 22·6:00 PMuntil7:00 PM
A portrait of Michelle BuiEventIn ConversationMichelle Bui with Julia Lamare and Chelsea Yuill
28 Apr 22·6:30 PMuntil7:30 PM
A selfie of Alex Gibson in a gallery space, shot in a mirrored artwork. They are wearing a black long-sleeved shirt.EventSaturday SessionAlex Gibson on Michelle Bui
9 Jul 22·12:00 PM
An exterior view of three of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. EventCuratorial Tourwith Julia Lamare
26 Jul 22·6:00 PM
A photographic work by Michelle Bui. Diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film. Sparse flowers and petals are sprinkled across the picture plane.
A view of the Contemporary Art Gallery building from across the street. The windows are covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colour, indecipherable plant matter and wrinkled plastics.
An askance view of the outside of CAG. Vinyl photographs, depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter appearing beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film cover the windows.
An exterior view of three of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film.
An exterior view of three of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film.
An exterior view of two of CAG’s windows covered with vinyl photographs depicting diffuse colours and indecipherable plant matter, which appear beneath a layer of wrinkled plastic film.
A corner view of Yaletown-Roundhouse train station covered entirely in seven large-scale, colourful still-life photographs. The images depict a variety of singular flowers with various objects.
Two large-scale still life photographs printed in vinyl cover an entire side of Yaletown-Roundhouse station. The images depict singular flowers with various objects on pink and brown backgrounds.