This year, the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) will continue to do what it does best: find that perfect balance between acclaimed local and international artists, unique specially-commissioned works, blockbuster collaborations with other international institutions, and selected works from the permanent collection—with an emphasis on the legendary Emily Carr.
The current exhibition, “How Soon is Now: Contemporary Art from Here” (on until May 3) looks at the strategies, methods and interests of our province’s most compelling artists. However, Vancouver-based photographer Scott McFarland will have a separate photographic show beginning October 3. His work reveals the artificiality of built spaces that intersect closely with nature: public parks, private gardens, remote cabins and zoos. Vancouver artist Reece Terris has also been commissioned by the VAG to erect a remarkable six storey apartment tower in the Gallery Rotunda, entitled “Ought Apartment” (April 25 to September 20). Each floor will hold a single flat, decorated to reflect the social values of each of the last six decades.
Two prominent American artists will each have their first Canadian solo shows at the VAG this year: photographer Anthony Hernandez (May 30 to September 7) and painter Kerry James Marshall (October 3 to January 3). Hernandez and Marshall are acclaimed for exploring racial boundaries within urban-American milieus.
Partnering with the Moderna Museet and Kuntsmuseen, the VAG will present “Andreas Gursky: Werke/Works 80-08” (May 30 to September 20). This exhibition will feature six new large-scale works that will be added to Gursky’s “encyclopedia of life”, a compilation of more than 150 photos taken over the last two decades. But most noteworthy perhaps is “Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum” (May 9 to September 13), the largest exhibition of 17-century Dutch masterpieces ever shown in Canada. Other artists to be shown this year include Stan Douglas, Fiona Tan and Jack Shadbolt.