Lorna Brown

Once Removed, a photo/sculpture installation by Vancouver-based artist Lorna Brown, is being presented by the Contemporary Art Gallery, December 5 – January 16. Brown was born in Oxbow, Saskatchewan and graduated from Simon Fraser University's Centre for the Arts in 1984.

In recent years, Lorna Brown's work has received increasing exposure across Canada with exhibitions in Toronto, Montreal and Regina. *Once Removed* is the most ambitious installation she has conceived for a Vancouver audience. The work consists of four-large sculptural constructions composed of styrofoam, cord, pulleys, and weights and 8 foot photographic images on mylar. Each image portrays part of a woman's body and each sculpture forms a letter that in combination spells out ONCE.

The sculptural components are further accompanied by wall-mounted tear sheets with textual narratives that convey personal and fragmentary stories told by women who have left one place and moved to another. Removal and displacement forms the basis of this installation providing a poetic affirmation of women's experience, and an acknowledgement that such voices are potent.


Essay: "Weight of Movement in Lorna Brown's Once Removed," Mona Kin Cagnon

An artwork suspended in a gallery space. The work. is composed of a large photo that shows someone cutting a thread from their tank top. A rolled cable hangs from the bottom of the photo. 

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An artwork suspended in the corner of a gallery space. The work is composed of a photo printed on mylar, showing a person in a black robe, suspended from a cardboard oval hanging from a black cable. 

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Two artworks mounted on a wall. One consists of two wooden pieces which suspend a large photo printed on mylar. A small stack of round, pink sheets hangs from a small metal rod in the wall.

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A closeup of a small stack of round, pink sheets hangs from a small metal rod in the wall. The sheets have an image faintly printed on the background and small black text on the foreground. 

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A large photo stretched between two wood beams. The beams have a slightly curved foot to them, resembling a serif on the letter "N." The structure has cables that hang from the ceiling attached to it.

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A thin, open book rests on the opening of a dark, brushed metal plinth. The plinth appears to be hollow and has a small divot to hold the spine of the book. The background shows a white wall.

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A large, translucent, black and white photo stretched between two wood beams in a gallery space. The beams have a slight curved foot to them, resembling serif on a letter "N."

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Once Removed

Rhoda Rosenfeld

Rhoda Rosenfeld is a Vancouver-based visual artist and poet. As a visual artist she has worked with photography and painting, at times combining the two. The exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery features a series of paintings Rosenfeld has been producing since 1988.

The *Dark Works*, to be exhibited at the Contemporary Art Gallery from October 31, were derived from a set of photographs taken by Rosenfeld in 1970. Before the film was developed, it was damaged by moisture and, as a result, the intended landscape images were obscured by ghostly biomorphic shapes. The landscapes in the paintings are also obscured, this time by a turbulent layer of brush marks that force a slow visual assimilation of the image. This veiling of the image is metaphoric of Rosenfeld's feeling about our relationship with a landscape that is increasingly mediated by technology through ecological erosion and the mass media. Rhoda Rosenfeld works slowly, producing an average of two paintings a year. The paintings are large, 5 feet by 8 feet, and are installed unstretched. The materials she employs include clay, oil paint, oil stick and colour pencil.

Essay: “Rhoda Rosenfeld: Dark Works 1988-1992,” Keith Wallace

An artwork on a white wall. The work is a painting on fabric pinned to the wall, containing rusty, earthy tones. Extruding from the painting is a large wood branch, possible with tree roots attached.

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Three large works in the corner of a gallery space. The works are dark paintings on unstretched canvas resembling light leaks on film. One work in the corner also had a large branch attached to it.

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The corner of a gallery space, with one work on each wall. The works are large, dark paintings, with white, blue and yellow blended into them. They are on unstretched canvas, pinned to the walls. 

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Two large paintings on a white wall. The works resemble damaged film negatives, and are presented on unstretched canvas, pinned directly to the wall. They are dark with soft, light, details. 

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Dark Works 1988 –1992

Alan Dunning

Alan Dunning is a British-born Canadian artist who lives and works in Calgary, Alberta. Since the late 1980s, Dunning has been producing ambitious installations that explore the complexities of language and perception through the juxtaposition of text and images generated from a variety of sources. His site specific installations are ephemeral and require up to two weeks to mount; the labour intensiveness of these works arises from his history as a performance artist.

The installation Alan Dunning has conceived for the Contemporary Art Gallery employs some two thousand 8 ½ inches by 11 inches transparent acetate sheets mounted edge to edge and broken by vertical striped banners. The accumulated letters, uninterrupted by word or punctuation breaks, form texts that are read horizontally along the wall. These texts shift from the prosaic to the poetic and are derived from three sources: Encyclopaedia Britannica's 1984 *Medical and Health Annual*, Larry Niven's *Neutron Star* and Charles Dickens' *Great Expectations*. Together they present a dense, interwoven narrative that physically envelops the viewer. The grid of ornate typeface frustrates quick assimilation of letters, words or phrases and creates an effect which has echoes of the Baroque, where the difference between the decorative and the symbolic becomes blurred. Dunning's work interrupts linear thought patterns and the stability of language.

Alan Dunning has exhibited in Banff, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg, Windsor, and Toronto. He has also produced a number of book-works to accompany his exhibitions. 


Essay: "Reading Dunning," Nancy Tousley

A closeup of several cursive capital letters. The letters are printed on clear plastic film and pasted on white walls, creating repeating shadows that replicate their curves and details.

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The corner of a gallery space. The walls are nearly covered with clusters of cursive capital letters on clear plastic film. Between the clusters of letters, there are long black vertical lines.

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A gallery space, its walls nearly covered in cursive letters. The letters are printed on glossy clear plastic and arranged in clusters which are separated by long black lines, also printed on plastic. 

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Cursive capital letters mounted on a white wall. They are printed on clear plastic sheets and are arranged neatly but out of alphabetical order. The letters are thin and highly ornate. 

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ELISION: The Sick Bed, The Body of the Astronaut, Susie Clelland

Cathy Charlton

Chick Rice

Judith Lodge

Liz Magor

Marian Penner Bancroft

The Contemporary Art Gallery is the custodian of a civic collection of 3000 artworks by Vancouver artists. This collection was acquired between 1973 and 1978 by the Social Planning Department of the City of Vancouver, with the assistance of the Federal Government’s Manpower and Immigration Department. With funding from the “Local Initiatives Program” artists were hired to make artwork that would be exhibited in the Gallery and later circulated throughout the many civic buildings in Vancouver. After 1978, a few additional works were donated to the Contemporary Art Gallery, so the core of the collection remains a reflection of the art activity in Vancouver during the 1970s.

The upcoming exhibition will be the first time the collection has been exhibited in the Contemporary Art Gallery since 1985. The focus is on works by five women artists active in Vancouver during the 1970s: Marian Penner Bancroft (photography), Cathy Charlton (drawing), Judith Lodge (painting), Liz Magor (sculpture), and Chick Rice (photography). The 1970s was an important period for women artists generally, as they began to break away from male-dominated discourses. The work in this exhibition is varied, but there is an underlying sense of the “domestic" in its broadest terms. Works in this exhibition document the intimacy of familial and social events, and personalize portraits of friends.

*Permanent collection: Works from the 1970s* marks the beginning of a re-evaluation of the Contemporary Art Gallery collection and an opportunity to explore an important era in the recent history of Vancouver's art activity.


A scanned exhibition invitation. It has a white background with black text with information about the exhibition, artists and gallery. A bold yellow and black block of text says PERMANENT COLLECTION.

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Marian Penner Bancroft, Cathy Charlton, Judith Lodge, Liz Magor, Chick Rice

Permanent Collection: Works from the 1970s

Christos Dikeakos

Countering the postcard image of Lotus Land that has come to characterize the public representation of Vancouver, Christos Dikeakos has been photographing anonymous and mundane views of the city for more than twenty-five years. In this new body of work, *Sites & Place Names*, Dikeakos challenges our understanding of the history of Vancouver.

Pairing carefully selected, colour panoramas of present-day Vancouver with sheets of glass sandblasted with the Salish names of sites that once existed there, Christos Dikeakos unveils Vancouver's overlapping histories. He reminds us that there is a deeper history to Vancouver which predates European settlement and continues to the present day. Dikeakos leaves us with a new way of looking at, and understanding, such familiar places as Stanley Park, the Burrard Street bridge and the North Shore.

*Sites & Place Names* was motivated by the artist's curiosity about the origins of his adopted neighbourhood of Kitsilano, where he first moved as a Greek immigrant youth. The exhibition was deliberately timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the arrival of Captain Vancouver to what is now the City of Vancouver.

Christos Dikeakos is well known to the Vancouver art community. He has served on the boards of a number of artist-run centres in the city, and is currently the head of the Art Acquisitions Committee at the Vancouver Art Gallery. A major retrospective of his work was mounted at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 1986.

Public programming for *Sites & Place Names* is supported by Vancouver City Savings Credit Union, and promotion is supported by U.TV, Vancouver.

Essay: “Sites & Place Names,” Keith Wallace

Artist Statement: Christos Dikeakos

A panoramic photo of a construction site mounted on a wall between 2 panes of glass. The pane on top is engraved with the word "skwachays," the traditional Squamish name of the False Creek Mudflats.

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A panoramic photo of a landscape mounted on a wall between 2 panes of glass. The pane on top is engraved with "hahcha" an adaptation of the traditional Squamish name for Beaver Lake in Stanley Park.

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A panoramic photo of a small park mounted on a white wall between 2 panes of glass. The pane on top is engraved with the word "Xcwáy̓x̱waya," the name of a Squamish Village in Stanley Park.

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Several photos between sheets of glass mounted on a white wall. The photos show different natural and urban scenes around what is colonially known as the city of Vancouver.

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Several photos between sheets of glass mounted on 2 white walls. The photos vary in scale and show different landscapes across what is colonially known as the city of Vancouver. 

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Multiple photos between sheets of glass mounted on 2 white walls. The photos vary in scale and show different landscapes and places across what is colonially known as the city of Vancouver.

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Sites & Place Names

Lyle Ashton Harris

Denis Lessard

Robert Flack

Robert Flack, Lyle Ashton Harris and Denis Lessard are three gay artists who, through the language of photographic images, clear a space for the public expression of gay male sexuality within North American culture.

*In This World*, organized by Keith Wallace at the Contemporary Art Gallery, brings the work of these three individuals together for the first time. 

"Both homosexuals and lesbians have been out of sync with the societal expectations implicit within Western systems of church/state, medical science and the mass media," says Wallace. "Indeed any examination of male sexuality in the visual arts has been noticeably absent in this world, except from within the gay male realm."

Each of the artists in *In This World* approach the issues in different ways. Denis Lessard from Montreal examines the position of being gay in relation to the various incarnations of masculinity that are circulated in the mass media. Lessard presents images he has assembled that span a number of genres—from ad icons such as the Marlboro man to entertainment personalities such as Tom Sellick and Jack Nicholson. Through his somewhat detached presentations, the artist asks us to acknowledge how these images might be received by the gay male community.

Lyle Ashton Harris, a Black gay artist from Los Angeles, turns to his friends and to himself as subject matter with which to question the dominant culture. Harris' is an exploration into the contradictory and often unexplainable aspects of the self, and the construction of gender and racial roles. The photograph becomes his stage on which to enact this exploration.

Robert Flack from Toronto pictures the male body as a vessel of energy centres. These energy centres are based upon metaphysical concepts of the chakras and meditation derived from Tantric rituals that promote the unity of body and mind. For Flack, these images metaphorically empower the body, bringing it to an exalted physical state.


Essay: "In This World," Keith Wallace

A starkly lit black and white portrait of a courching shirtless person holding a photo release trigger in their hand. They are wearing white face makeup and a wig. 

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4 artworks in clear frames on a wall. They are a GQ magazine with a Marlboro ad, a pack of Marlboros, A Marlboro ad in a Newsweek magazine (with a cover reading: "Gay America"), and a Vanity Fair.

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A white wall with several images and news clippings. The images include a photo of Burt Reynolds, Wham, and underwear ads.  At the centre, rectangular pieces of text are placed in an arch shape.

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The corner of a gallery with a white and a black wall. On the white wall are 3 colourful, hazy images of nude muscular bodies. On the black wall there is white and yellow text and dozens of Polaroids.

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Three large photos on a gallery wall. The photos are black and white and show semi-nude people in drag or costume. The photos are printed on glossy paper and pinned to the wall.

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The corner of a gallery. One wall has 3 large black and white photos of people in drag, the other has a large composition of many small images, and 3 colourful framed images of nude, muscular people.

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A black wall in a gallery with text and dozens of Polaroid photos. The text is composed of two different excerpts alternating, one in yellow and one in white, intertwining in a disorienting way.

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Several images in black frames, mounted on a white wall. The images are colourful and detailed, resembling views from a kaleidoscope. The photo is at a slight angle and shows the frames diagonally. 

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A closeup of several Polaroid photos on a black wall. Some photos are captioned and some are not. All depicts snippets of Black Queer life, including plates of food, smiles, kisses, genitals and hugs.

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A white wall in a gallery, showing several images in black frames, mounted that resemble views from a kaleidoscope. In the corner, small digital collages are also mounted on the wall.

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Robert Flack, Lyle Ashton Harris, Denis Lessard

In This World

Eva Brandl

Eva Brandl is a Montreal-based artist who is recognized for her bold and often theatrical sculptural installations. She has been exhibiting nationally since 1974 and has been featured in exhibitions in New York, Milan and London, England. The Contemporary Art Gallery exhibition is the first occasion for Brandl's work to be seen in Vancouver and will afford the Vancouver community a rare opportunity to encounter artwork from Montreal.

In her mixed media installation, *Morceaux Choisis (Pour Anatole)*, Eva Brandl employs a variety of iconic forms, among them a globe, a cross, a table, an urn, and oak leaves. She reformulates these elements through materials such as lead, wood, bronze, and aluminum to create evocative wall reliefs and sculptural objects. Brandl’s careful placement of the objects within the space of the gallery is poetic. It draws the viewer into the space, inviting an intimate reading of the work.

Essay: “Eva Brandl: morceaux choisis (pour Anatole),” Keith Wallace

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Mounted on a white wall, a long piece of brown fabric drapes to the floor. The fabric has 22 french phrases on it in italicized, purple lowercase text. The first phrase reads: "voilà le monde."

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A gallery with one artwork on each of the visible walls. One work is a long piece of fabric that touches the floor. One is a wood panel with gold foil and small bits of material along its bottom edge.

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The corner of a gallery space. On one wall, there is a wood panel with gold foil and small bits of material along its bottom edge. On the other, an asymmetrical work with layered painted panels.

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The corner of a gallery space. A large photo of a silver ball in a dark room is on a wall. On the floor, a table with an asymmetrical cross painting on it, and a vase with metal detailing beside it.

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In a gallery, a large photo of a silver ball and a geometric work with layered painted panels are on the wall. On the floor, there is a table with a painting on it, and a vase with metal detailing. 

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Morceaux Choisis (Pour Anatole)

Charles Rea

Charles Rea is a Vancouver-based artist who has been exhibiting for a decade. He is an important participant in Vancouver's painting community, and has exhibited in Vancouver; Toronto; Montreal; Cologne; Hamburg; and Toyama, Japan.

Both books and architecture have played a major role in Rea's painting. The work exhibited in the 1985 Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition, *Young Romantics*, had actual books incorporated as the ground for his paintings of architectural interiors. Charles Rea's new work has painted images of books stacked into formations that suggest architectural structures. Presented on flat grounds of solid colour, the images of books are thickly painted and allude to the long-standing rift between minimalist abstract painting and figurative representation.

Charles Rea is interested in creating a delicate balance between a visual reading of the painting's materiality and a subliminal reading of each book's content. The titles of the books are legible and create a web of textual readings across the canvas. The use of text is a common device in contemporary art and Charles Rea is finding complex and humorous ways of incorporating words into paintings.


Essay: “Charles Rea: Paintings,” Keith Wallace

A scanned exhibition invitation with a white background. “Charles Rea” is written in an orange cursive font. Beneath it is an orange rectangle with black text detailing information about events. 