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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
17 Apr 93until22 May 93

Roy Arden

555 Hamilton St

5 vertical, framed photographic works on a white wall. The three frames in the centre contain 2 photos each, all of construction sites. The two on the ends each have one small photo of a landscape.

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of new colour photographs by Vancouver based artist Roy Arden. Arden has been exhibiting for a decade and in the mid-1980s gained an international reputation for his photographic works incorporating retrieved or "appropriated'' archival photographs that encouraged the viewer to reconsider how history is constructed through photography. Arden's work is in the collections of the Vancouver Art Gallery; Winnipeg Art Gallery; Art Gallery of Ontario; Fond Nationale d' Art Contemporain, Paris; Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart; and the Foundation de la Photographie, Zurich.

The exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery is Arden's first solo exhibition in Vancouver since 1990. It also marks his return to taking his own photographs. In a departure from traditions of picturesque landscape photography, Arden depicts seemingly anonymous aspects of landscape undergoing transformation such as residential and commercial development sites and waste dumps, and constructs a matrix of images that provoke a reading directed to the social and economic change that continues to affect British Columbia.

A closeup of 2 framed photographic works on a white wall. On the left, a horizontal photo shows stacks of plywood and cell towers. The vertical one on the right, shows what looks like a museum lobby.
A gallery space with two walls framing a hallway in the background. The walls on the left and the right have a large framed photo work on them. In the centre, the hallway has three framed photo works.
A gallery space with 6 framed photographic works mounted on the white walls. The works are both vertical and horizontal and depict city scenes, such as construction sites, houses, and underpasses.
The walls of a gallery space and a hallway. On all walls, there are framed photo works. The frames in the hallway contain 2 photos, and the frames in the interior walls have 1 larger photo in them.
A closeup of two framed photo works on a white wall. On the left, there is a birds-eye view of a city with waterways. On the left, there is a photo of a mining truck and an excavator, digging dirt.

Documents

Essay: "An Artist and his Models," Jeff Wallpdf2mb

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5 vertical, framed photographic works on a white wall. The three frames in the centre contain 2 photos each, all of construction sites. The two on the ends each have one small photo of a landscape.
A closeup of 2 framed photographic works on a white wall. On the left, a horizontal photo shows stacks of plywood and cell towers. The vertical one on the right, shows what looks like a museum lobby.
A gallery space with two walls framing a hallway in the background. The walls on the left and the right have a large framed photo work on them. In the centre, the hallway has three framed photo works.
A gallery space with 6 framed photographic works mounted on the white walls. The works are both vertical and horizontal and depict city scenes, such as construction sites, houses, and underpasses.
The walls of a gallery space and a hallway. On all walls, there are framed photo works. The frames in the hallway contain 2 photos, and the frames in the interior walls have 1 larger photo in them.
A closeup of two framed photo works on a white wall. On the left, there is a birds-eye view of a city with waterways. On the left, there is a photo of a mining truck and an excavator, digging dirt.