The first piece I noticed was Graham Landin's textile sculpture that hung from the ceiling accompanied by two other colorful sculptures of his which were hung on the wall behind it. The wall sculptures consisted of spray paint applied to wood in a minimalist style. All of his work is light-hearted, colorful and humorous. For the most part his sculptures are a nice aesthetic experience but accomplish nothing conceptually. His sculpture works are reminiscent of cubist paintings by Piet Mondrian and Kazimir Malevich. I found the large-scale photograph by Calen Knauf, which was placed in the middle of the wall between two of Landin's sculptures, fairly distracting and would have preferred Landin's work on its own.
As I walked into the next room to grab a beer I found the work of Mark Jacobson a.k.a. Rainbow Thunderbird. Jacobson is most likely considered to be one of the technically stronger and respected artists of the collective as his work took up a full wall of the gallery. I was struck by Jacobson's strong use of bright, bold colours and intrigued by his ambiguous imagery. Jacobson uses traditional motifs that are popular in Native North American art such as the eagle and bear, but I couldn't associate Jacobson's symbolism to any certain tribe or region. Jacobson has certainly found a way to exploit the rising popularity of Native art just as Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun and Sonny Assu have in the past. I was more interested in the graphic quality of his work and the technical precision Jacobson has rather than the spiritual connection that is often perceived in the paintings.
The spiritual experience happened in a dark room located next to Jacobson's work which housed a projection by the art collective Salazar. The projection consisted of an underwater shot of a man swimming in mirky water that had a green hue to it. The projection was displayed on the roof without any audio, putting the viewer in a place of tranquility and peace. Common associations of being under water such as drowning were disregarded, I instead had the sensation of comfortably floating under the male figure, which gently floated and swam in both the water and the medium (light). For me, the Salazar projection was the strongest of the exhibit. I discovered later that Salazar is made up of four innovative individuals: Jesse Savath, Bienviendo Cruz, Jeff Petry and nathan Drillot and mostly "focus on music videos and narrative films" (hereisnow.ca).
Upstairs I passed under a sculpture by Joshua van Dyke that hung above the stairs and into a room that featured photographs by Natasha Lands and a pool table which I proceeded to play on with my girlfriend and two other local art enthusiasts. I respect Lands' work to a certain degree, being both a skateboarder and photographer myself. There were four photographs by Lands in the pool room, the first a shot of surfers relaxing close to the coast, the second a photograph taken when the surf had risen a bit higher than first shot without the surfers, the third a set of stairs and the last a shot of a rail with stoppers meant to prevent the use by skateboarders. I enjoyed the consistency that exists in Lands' work and her ability to document subcultures and the various objects and environments that they exist in and are apart of.
The last room I entered was the most diverse, containing the work of Kaput, Roger Allen, Wizard Gang and Robert Mearns to name a few. Naturally I was intrigued mostly by the print work of graffiti artist Kaput. Kaput's style is a return to the 80's themes of punk motifs and graphics, not unlike the work of Vernon Johnson who drew designs for Powell Skateboards. Perhaps it’s the graphic and illustrative quality of Kaput's work that I'm attracted to but it's certainly not the concepts. His work is instantly sellable and easily produced, most likely to be printed on a shirt or under a skateboard. Other work that I was attracted to in this diverse room was the portraits painted by Robert Mearns. The two portraits were relatively conservative in regards to most of his other paintings in which mortality, and the erratic application of paint are central themes.
Overall I was pleased with exhibit and found it comforting that local artists are producing aesthetically pleasing work. On the contrary most of the work explores nothing new conceptually or politically. With an exception of the projection, all of the work had a price, which distracted me from the artist's intention and work itself. For this reason I consider this exhibit to be more of an art sale than art show. I realize the importance of making money for an artist but would rather see contact information rather than the price. Pricing a piece forces the viewer to judge the work on an economical basis and the concept or intention can be lost or dismissed when critiquing the work. When considering the fact that the gallery is so close to the conflict area of Hastings and Main, I would expect to see more work that references that struggle of the individuals that occupy that environment. I find galleries in religious spaces such as the Chapel intriguing and would like to see more artists utilizing spaces like these. The idea of the art gallery as a place of sanctuary is an interesting theme and I would like to see more artists use that to their advantage.
1st Floor
Graham Landin
Calen Knauf
Peter Taylor
Mark Jacobson
Salazar
Heather Martin
Caleb Beyers
Anna Macellan
Bob Kronbauer
2nd Floor
Joshua van Dyke
Natasha Lands
Kaput
Roger Allen
Hana Pesut
Luke Ramsey
Wizard Gang
Justin Gradin
Robert Mearns
By Max Cirka
Prepared for Patrik Andersson,
AHIS Studies in Contemporary Art
