This publication, produced in 2003 by the Contemporary Art Gallery, accompanied the exhibition Geoffrey Farmer: *The Blacking Factory* at the Contemporary Art Gallery from June 21 – August 11, 2002. The publication includes essays by Nanaimo based poet and critic Peter Culley and CAG Curator Reid Shier, with an introduction by Christina Ritchie and a letter of apology from Geoffrey Farmer. The book includes two colour posters.

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The Blacking Factory

Geoffrey Farmer

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Vancouver based artist Geoffrey Farmer titled *The Blacking Factory*. Farmer's cross-disciplinary practice utilizes a wide variety of materials to investigate the place of art within a social context. Like artists Gabriel Orozco and Thomas Hirschhorn, Farmer's work often intersects and develops in dialogue with a specific location. Most recently, Farmer's work has been the subject of a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and he is included in upcoming group exhibitions at Gasworks Gallery, London, UK and at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK. He is represented in Vancouver by the Catriona Jeffries Gallery.

*The Blacking Factory* is comprised of three interrelated works: a sculptural installation in the form of a large truck trailer, a film work depicting the windows of the Contemporary Art Gallery shattering from an explosive concussion and a set prop of a generic newspaper box
installed at the exterior of the Gallery entrance. All three works utilize the technological expertise of the film industry to provoke analogies between mechanisms of display and the artifice behind the creation of meaning and value. The truck trailer is fabricated in mimicry of those used by movie production companies — an increasingly common sight on the streets of Vancouver — and alludes to the transportation of such illusionist necessities as props, lighting systems and costumes. Farmer's film work rehearses a set piece found in a wide spectrum of Hollywood movies — from action-adventure to thriller — and uses the unexpectedness of this violent genre staple within and about the gallery to prompt questions about the context of perception. 

Essay: "Everything Counts," Reid Shier

A metal made newspaper dispenser sits outside of the CAG’s front entrance. This silver coloured machine looks worn and contains a yellowed paper called Daily Times.

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This aerial shot of the installation shows the four walls of the semi truck trailer installed in the gallery space. The trailer is white, and its ceiling is missing. 

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This is a side view of a white semi truck trailer installed in a gallery space. Two beams support the structure where the trailer attaches to a truck.

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This is a video work projected on a screen installed in a darkened gallery. The screen shows the illuminated exterior of the CAG building during the night. 

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This is the installation shot of Geoffrey Farmer’s exhibition at CAG. A large white semi truck trailer is installed in a gallery space. The trailer is placed to face its back to the gallery entrance.

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A metal made newspaper vending machine sits outside of the CAG’s glass entrance. This silver coloured machine looks old. It sells Daily Times.

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This is a close-up view of the sculptural installation by Geoffrey Farmer. A large white semi truck trailer sits in a gallery space. This image shows the front of the trailer.

Geoffrey Farmer

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