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Strange Songs of Trust and Treachery

Exhibition Title: Strange Songs of Trust and Treachery

Artist: Laura Lamb

Opening: April 5, 2013

Exhibition Dates: April 5 - May 4, 2013

Exhibition: Strange Songs of Trust and Treachery
Artist: Laura Lamb
Opening: April 5, 2013 (7pm -10pm)
Exhibition Dates: April 5, 2013 – May 4, 2013

Grunt gallery is pleased to exhibit Strange Songs of Trust and Treachery by Vancouver-based artist, Laura Lamb. The exhibition features several installations that reveal the curious fictional world of Lamb’s Performing Objects.

The artist describes Lamb’s Performing Objects as “An umbrella project including videos, installation, drawings and texts, in which all parts work together as a collage. Each fragment informs the others to evoke a fictive world of wandering performers, some human, some almost human, who through song, story and circus ravel and unravel 20th century cultural mythologies.

The concept of Strange Songs of Trust and Treachery grew from a set of song lyrics I wrote for the character Lotte Obratsov. Lotte first appeared in a set of small mixed media figures, which were in turn based on a set of drawings.”

Russian lacquerware, rusty metal household objects and clockwork mechanisms perform in Bits and Tatters, the first installment of a video trilogy. Accompanying this video is a song that Lamb wrote and produced with composer and singer, Beverly Dobrinsky.

“My work investigates the gaps and disjunctions between the frailty and clumsiness of performing objects (for example puppets, toys or masks) and their power as producers of complex and compelling narrative,” says Lamb. “It’s in these gaps where the comedic and transcendent power of objects is able to emerge.”

The opening reception for Strange Songs of Trust and Treachery will be held at grunt gallery on Friday April 5, 2013 from 7-10 pm. The exhibition will run from April 5 – May 4, 2013.


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Bio:
Laura Lamb was born in Kenora, Ontario, in 1955 and grew up on Lake Lulu where the family owned Lamb’s Camp, a small tourist business. She was a “red diaper baby,” meaning that her parents were communists. Kenora is not far from Winnipeg and Laura dropped out of high school in that city in 1971.

She dropped back into school in the 1980s, earning a BA at SFU Centre for the Arts, where she studied with Jeff Wall, Greg Snider and Kaja Silverman, and an MFA at the University of Victoria, studying with Fred Douglas, Roland Brenner and Mowry Baden.

Before creating the umbrella project and fictive world of Lamb’s Performing Objects, Laura created bodies of work in video and photography, which have been exhibited and collected nationally and internationally.

Laura lives and works in Vancouver. http://lauralamb.ca/

Essay:

Notes from an encounter with Lamb’s Performing Objects Impresario, Blackie Schwarzkopf, at an undisclosed café near Fraser Street in January of 2013 on a Tuesday. by Anakana Schofield

Radio Interview:

http://rabble.ca/podcasts/shows/redeye/2013/04/strange-songs-trust-and-treachery

 

Gutter Snipes I | Cal Lane

Exhibition Title: Gutter Snipes I | Cal Lane

Artist: Cal Lane

Opening: February 15, 2013 (7 – 10 pm)

Exhibition Dates: Feb 15 – Mar 23, 2013

grunt gallery is pleased to announce the exhibition of Gutter Snipes I by Canadian artist Cal Lane. Gutter Snipes I is an aluminum coated steel sewer pipe that is carved away into an ornate collage of figures and organic designs. This positive relief sculpture reveals a collision between the damned and the divine.

The definition of “guttersnipe” refers to a street urchin in the slums of a city or a person of the lowest cast in society. Within the patterns of Cal Lane’s Gutter Snipes I, cityscapes emerge amongst clouds of curls and vines; angels cradle fanged animals while small creatures nip at the heels of silhouetted figures. Those that appear to be falling within the cutout sculpture could be ascending within the reflection of softened shadows.

“I like to work as a visual devil’s advocate, using contradiction as a vehicle for finding my way to an empathetic image, an image of opposition that creates a balance – as well as a clash – by comparing and contrasting ideas and materials.” – Cal Lane, artist statement.

Gutter Snipes I juxtapose industrial materials and tools often used in blue-collar, masculine environments, with designs commonly used in textiles, such as lace, veils or tapestry, referencing feminine practice and use. This compare and contrast relationship is evident with Cal Lane’s sculpture which creates a multi-dimensional environment that spans from the expansive steel-cut object to the furthest reaches of the sculpture-lit shadows.

Currently based out of New York, Cal Lane grew up in Saanichton, British Columbia. This is her first exhibition in Western Canada. Gutter Snipes I will run at grunt gallery from Feb 15, 2013 – March 23, 2013.

Bio:

Cal Lane was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, grew up in Saanichton, British Columbia. She received her diploma in Painting from Victoria College of Art, Victoria, British Columbia in 1994. She went on to earn a second B.F.A. in Sculpture from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in 2000 and completed her M.F.A in Sculpture from State University of New York in 2004. Lane lives and works in Putnam Valley, NY. www.callane.com

Articles:

http://akimbo.ca/akimblog/?id=664

 

Holding Our Breath | Adrian Stimson

Exhibition Title: Holding Our Breath | Adrian Stimson

Artist: Adrian Stimson

Opening: January 4, 2013 (7–10pm)

Exhibition Dates: January 4, 2013 – February 9, 2013

“Holding Our Breath” by Adrian Stimson, is a large-scale installation based on the artist’s first hand experiences and observations at a military base in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The work is informed by conversations Stimson had with soldiers, some of which were First Nations, and his impression with daily life occurring at the military base situated in the vast Middle Eastern landscape.

“…This exhibition brings together drawings, photographs, video and sculptural installations that explore the ambiguities of war by linking personal history with wider cultural and political issues. Although this work reflects on the complex situation in Afghanistan, Stimson deflects the focus away from the truncated newsreel moments to daily life affirming moments.” – excerpt from, “Holding Our Breath: The Work of Adrian Stimson” by Elizabeth Matheson.

The work includes the Stimson’s own personal perspective of serving in the military as well as his family’s history serving in the Canadian military as soldiers and historically as Blackfoot warriors. These experiences, in addition to Stimson’s time spent in Kandahar, allows the artist to approach these topics from a perspective that questions the essence of conflict and how this links between personal, cultural, and military identity.

The artist will be in attendance at the opening reception on Friday, January 4th, 2013. This exhibition will run until Saturday, February 9th, 2013.

Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Adrian Stimson is a member of the Siksika (Blackfoot) Nation in southern Alberta. His work includes installation, painting, performance, video, and photography. Performances at Burning Man on the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, have created “Buffalo Boy” as well as the “Shaman Exterminator” who seeks to explore the myths, falsehoods and realities of Shamanic being. He lives and works in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

http://adrianstimson.com

Articles:

AMSSA Article: Artist get the experience of a lifetime in Kandahar

Satellite Gallery Blog: Adrian Stimson Has Us Holding Our Breath

White Hot Magazine: February 2013, Adrian Stimson at Grunt Gallery

 

Read the Essay:

Holding-Our-Breath-The-Work-of-Adrian-Stimson

 

Remains | Mark Mizgala

Exhibition Title: Remains | Mark Mizgala

Artist: Mark Mizgala

Opening: December 12, 2012

Exhibition Dates: December 13, 2012 to January 6th, 2013

Exhibitions Title: Remains
Artist: Mark Mizgala
Opening: December 12 2012, 7-10pm
Exhibition Dates: December 13, 2012 to January 6th, 2013

Artist Mark Mizgala presents posters of pop bottles and other containers coated in slip, creating a look of ancient clay vessels in this off-site exhibition entitled, Remains. Mizgala investigates contemporary food and beverage packaging, represented as mock archaeological findings. The artwork appears in a form that is intrinsic to advertising: posters printed on commercial-grade paper and displayed in bus shelters across the City of Vancouver.

Having worked as an art director for most of his professional career, advertising is familiar territory for Mizgala. He is fascinated by the corporate machine, its by-products, and the manner in which they are presented in popular culture. Mizgala immortalizes on film that which is already immortal: garbage, enjoying a particularly long life in our landfills, rivers, and ocean floors. The poster series is a testament to long-term environmental impact – a sharp contrast to the ephemera of advertising and mass media.

This exhibition runs from Wednesday, December 12th, 2012 to January 6th, 2013, punctuating a seasonal month known for its increased advertising meant to encourage inflated consumerism. Working with the City of Vancouver’s Transit Shelter Advertising Program, grunt gallery has facilitated the production and distribution of the posters across the city as an off-site exhibition.

Biography:
Mark Mizgala was born in Montreal in 1963, and graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in 1987 where he was awarded full scholarship for three consecutive years. In his graduating year he was the recipient of the prestigious Ontario College of Art Medal.

After attending the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University, Mark began working in Vancouver as an advertising art director, and went on to win numerous international awards for creative excellence, including Cannes, The New York One Show, Communications Arts Magazine, and Archive Magazine. Mark was nominated for Best Art Exhibit of 2011 in the Ottawa Xpress Magazine’s Best of Ottawa reader’s poll. His work is in collections throughout North America and Europe.

http://markmizgala.com/
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PLEASE NOTE: Although this exhibition is off-site, the opening reception will be held at grunt gallery.
350 E 2nd – Vancouver, BC V5T 4R8
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OFFSITE LOCATIONS OF POSTERS:

Burrard 28m North of Pacific, East Side.
W. Georgia 34m East of Broughton, South Side.
Granville 35M North of Robson, West Side.
Pacific Blvd 20M North of Davie St, East Side.
6th Ave 77M West of Cambie St, North Side.
Commercial 20m North of E. 14th, East Side.
W. 10th 20m East of Tolmie, South Side.
W. 16th 28m East of Trimble, South Side.
W. 49th 36m West of West Blvd., North Side.

The Sea Is A Stereo

Exhibition Title: The Sea Is A Stereo

Artist: Mounira Al Solh

Opening: Thurs, October 11, 2012, 7-10pm

Exhibition Dates: Thurs, 11 October 2012 – Sat, 1 December 2012

 

Mounira Al Sohl, The Sea Is A Stereo, 2007- ongoing

Mounira Al Solh, The Sea Is A Stereo, 2007- ongoing (Courtesy of Sfeir-Semler gallery Beirut and Hamburg)

Exhibition Title: “The Sea Is A Stereo”
Artist: Mounira Al Solh
Opening: Thu, October 11, 2012, 7-10pm
Dates: Thu. 11 October 2012 – Sat, 1 December 2012

Description:

“The Sea Is A Stereo” by artist Mounira Al Solh, introduces us to a group of men who swim daily at a beach in Beirut, Lebanon. This practice of swimming takes place despite varying circumstances relating to weather, the change of seasons, and the conflict of war and politics. The work is made up of several elements that use video, photographs and audio-recorded interviews. While these men are connected through their swimming ritual, Al Solh further connects these men to their surroundings, practice and socio-political issues by means of a visual and audio-based installation. This exhibition will take place in the main front room at grunt gallery.

“…Every day they turn their back to the city where they live to dive in the sea. As if they voluntarily wait on a threshold, finding a comfortable place for themselves between emigration and immigration.”
– Mounira Al Solh speaks about “The Sea Is A Stereo.”

The exhibition will also include a newly created work by Mounira Al Solh, entitled, “A Double Burger and Two Metamorphoses: a proposal for a Dutch Cat, a Dutch Dog, a Dutch Donkey, a Dutch Goat and finally, a Dutch Camel”. An ongoing project created in 2010, the artist forces herself to be locked inside an empty house for three days while she communicates through scripted conversations. Al Solh talks both as herself and as different animal personas: “We speak about the difficulty of reading different philosophers and thinkers like Rousseau, Lyotard, Taussig and Multatuli. And also about the impossibility to dance slow, or to get a hug or a kiss when most needed, for instance.” Through this theatrical process, Al Solh finds a method to refer to the process of waiting for residency through video and the construction of cuckoo clocks, which operate as an Entr’acte, meaning “between the acts.” This project will be exhibited in the gruntKitchen Media Lab.

The exhibition will run at grunt gallery from October 11th to December 1st , 2012. This exhibition is a part of the Institutions by Artists week; Vancouver artist-run centres and community partners will present special projects that link to the themes of the Convention.

Bio:

Mounira Al Solh studied painting at the Lebanese University in Beirut (LB), and Fine Arts at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam (NL). Al Solh is currently doing a research residency at AIR in Antwerp for making the third NOA magazine issue. She has had solo shows at Sfeir-Semler Gallery in Beirut and at Kunsthalle Lisbon in Portugal. Among many others she has exhibited at New Museum, New York in 2012; Haus Der Kunst, Munich; Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain; The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai; Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, The Netherlands; and Al Riwaq Art Space, Manama, Bahrain – all in 2010; and at Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe; the Galerie Nord, Kunstverein Tiergarten, Berlin; and the 11th International Istanbul Biennial in 2009. Her video Rawane’s Song received the 2007 jury prize at VideoBrasil. Her video installation As If I Don’t Fit There was part of the first Lebanese Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2007. (http://www.mouniraalsolh.com/)

Do The Wave | Jonathan Villeneuve

Jonathan Villeneuve, Do the Wave, 2009

Exhibition Title: Do The Wave | Jonathan Villeneuve

Artist: Jonathan Villeneuve

Opening: Thursday September 6, 7-10pm [SWARM]

Exhibition Dates: Thu, 6 September 2012 – Sat, 6 October 2012

Exhibition Title: Do The Wave
Artist: Jonathan Villeneuve
Opening: Thursday September 6, 7-10pm
Exhibition Dates: Thu, 6 September 2012 – Sat, 6 October 2012

“Do The Wave” by Jonathan Villeneuve

 

Grunt gallery is pleased to present an electromechanical installation by Montreal artist Jonathan Villeneuve. This exhibition is occurring in conjunction with SWARM and the New Forms Festival. Do The Wave, 2009 (Faire La Vague) will be on view at the gallery until Saturday October 6.

Villeneuve makes poetic machines by assembling familiar materials that he barely transforms. His works move, emit light and produce sounds in ways that challenge one’s assumption about it’s imaginary function.

“My work is made out of common objects and materials – familiar elements that evoke the architecture of the everyday. I assemble these elements in ways that highlight their poetic and narrative potential. My installation triggers a physical reaction in the visitor, particularly due to the scale of the piece and it’s uncanny movements. It evokes a personal and embodied experience with architecture as constructed environment.

I build structures that are activated by mechanical, electrical, and electronic mechanisms while addressing the modern notion of the autonomous object. This pseudo functional amalgam address pataphysics and refers to the idea of the gadget, the ‘thing-a-ma-jig’, a thing of a vague utility, with an imaginary functionality.

By researching the mechanisms of construction of time through movement I aim to push my work beyond it’s own materiality. More than just simple objects, my structures activate the space through their sound, as well as through their animated play of light and shadow in the exhibition space. These elements, as time-based and intangible, extend the sculptural quality of the work and accentuate its character as time-architecture.” (jonathan-villeneuve.com)

Faire la Vague / by Jonathan Villeneuve from PERTE DE SIGNAL on Vimeo.

Made possible, in part, through support from:

Conseil des arts et des lettres

Conseil des arts et des lettres

PRESS CLIPPINGS:

Canadian Art: Sound Waves, Microscopes Bring Science-Fair Feel To Grunt Gallery
The Georgia Straight: Artists Jonathan Villeneuve and David Khang take on complex themes…

Amelogenesis Imperfecta (How Deep is the Skin of Teeth) | David Khang

Exhibition Title: Amelogenesis Imperfecta (How Deep is the Skin of Teeth) | David Khang

Artist: David Khang

Opening: Thursday September 6, 7-10pm [SWARM 13]

Exhibition Dates: Thu, 6 September – Sat, 22 September, 2012

“Sharks” by David Khang, laser-etching on cells stained & fixed on glass slide

Opening: Thursday Sept 6, 7-10 pm
Exhibition Dates: Thursday, Sept 6 to Saturday Sept 22, 2012

grunt gallery and CSA Space are co-presenting Amelogenesis Imperfecta (How Deep is the Skin of Teeth), and Beautox Me, two related bodies of work that merge David Khang’s dual vocations – in art and dentistry.

grunt gallery is exhibiting Amelogenesis Imperfecta (How Deep is the Skin of Teeth), a project that combines disciplines from art and dental science to produce microscopic laser-drawings onto epithelial cells. This work is based on research conducted at SymbioticA Centre for Excellence in Biological Arts at the University of Western Australia. Khang experimented with growing enamel producing cells into shapes referred to as “enamel sculptures”. While the project did not reach its original objective to grow enamel, the cells produced during this experiment were cultivated onto glass slides providing an area in which the cells could be drawn on with a precise cutting laser.

The exhibition includes an essay on David Khang’s project, “Mashup Destinies” written by Kóan Jeff Baysa. Kóan Jeff Baysa is a physician, curator, designer, writer, critic, Whitney Museum Independent Study Program – Helena Rubinstein Curatorial Fellow, and a member of AICA, the association of international art critics. The essay is commissioned by Grunt Gallery. Click here to read the essay.

Khang’s practice is informed by education in psychology, theology, and dentistry. He received his BSc (1987) and DDS (1991), both from the University of Toronto, before pursuing his BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design (2000), and MFA with Emphasis in Critical Theory at UC Irvine (2004). He teaches sessionally at the Emily Carr University of Art+Design.

This exhibition is located in grunt gallery’s Media Lab. There is an opening reception, in association with Swarm 13, on Thursday September 6th (7-10 pm).

Location:
grunt gallery 350 E 2nd, hours: Tue-Sat, 12-5
Beautox Me will be exhibited at CSA Space, See Pulpfiction Books(2422 Main Street) for admission.

Made possible, in part, through support from:

The Hamber Foundation

The Hamber Foundation

PRESS CLIPPINGS:

The Georgia Straight: Artists Jonathan Villeneuve and David Khang take on complex themes…
The Georgia Straight: Fall arts preview: David Khang bridges the gap between science and art
Canadian Art: Sound Waves, Microscopes Bring Science-Fair Feel To Grunt Gallery

BLIZZARD: Emerging Northern Artists

Exhibition Title: BLIZZARD: Emerging Northern Artists

Artist: Jamasie Pitseolak, Nicholas Galanin, Tanya Lukin-Linklater, Geronimo Inutiq and in the media lab, Northern Haze: Living the Dream (2011). Director: Derek Aqqiaruq

Opening: Thurs. July 5, 7-10pm

Exhibition Dates: Thurs. July 5, 2012 – Sat. August 4, 2012

Curator: Tania Willard

“The Guitar” by Jamasie Pitseolak

BLIZZARD: Emerging Northern Artists looks at indigenous artists working in the North who are using their traditions to forge new ideas around contemporary art. The exhibition and publication, in development for over two years, looks at the influence of Inuit and Northern traditional art forms and how these are translated by a younger generation of artists whose roots are in the North. How does the landscape and context of the North influence the visions of its young artists and how do our interpretations of that dreaming—our preconceptions about the North—influence our understanding? Curated by Artist/Curator Tania Willard, whose recent curatorial project Beat Nation (co-curated with Kathleen Ritter) just closed at the Vancouver Art Gallery, BLIZZARD looks at a younger generation of Northern Artists schooled in the traditions of their artists families, but breaking barriers by questioning relationships that tie North and South.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

grunt gratefully acknowledges core funding from the Canada Council for the Arts Visual Arts Section, the British Columbia Arts Council, the BC Gaming Policy & Enforcement Branch, the City of Vancouver and our membership and donors.

Specific programs have also been funded by Heritage Canada, The Vancouver Foundation, Canada Council for the Arts, The BC Arts Council, The Saskatchewan Arts Board, The Audain Foundation, Province of BC Cultural Services Branch, Arts Now, and Arts Partners in Creative Development.

We thank all funders and supporters of our programs.

Qiqayt, 1982 | Emilio Portal

Exhibition Title: Qiqayt, 1982 | Emilio Portal

Artist: Emilio Portal

Opening: Thu, 31 May, 7-10pm

Exhibition Dates: Tue, 29 May - Sat, 23 Jun, 2012

Emilio Portal, Qiqayt, 2012

Description: An on going installation honouring the complexities and mysteries of Qiqayt history, Canadian colonialism, and the artist’s own personal journey. Emilio Portal was born 1982 in New Westminster, British Columbia, the traditional territory of the Qiqayt nation.

Bio: Emilio Portal is an artist, musician, builder, and designer of French and Peruvian descent. Portal’s work is inherently interdisciplinary and spontaneous – preferring to work in-the-moment, rather than through script. Portal has spent a number of years with Dakota, Nahuatl, and Wixarika elders experiencing the immeasurable wisdom of traditional knowledge. He received a BFA from Laurentian University in 2005, a Bachelor of Environmental Design from Dalhousie in 2007, and graduated from the MFA program at the University of Victoria in 2011.

Here There Nowhere, Flaccid Means Without End | Ali Ahadi

Exhibition Title: Here There Nowhere, Flaccid Means Without End | Ali Ahadi

Artist:

Opening:

Exhibition Dates:

Exhibition Title: Here There Nowhere, Flaccid Means Without End

“Here There Nowhere, Flaccid Means Without End” by Ali Ahadi

Artist: Ali Ahadi
Opening: Friday, 6 April, 7-11pm
Exhibition Dates: Fri, 6 April – Sat, 12 May, 2012
Creative Contributor: Glenn Alteen
Medium: Photography, Video

Description:

This exhibition is comprised of multiple series of black and white photographs and a video that address the personal and sociopolitical context of working as an artist in contemporary Iranian-middle eastern culture. The sequencing of the photos fosters a subtle narrative effect in each series. The subjects addressed in the photos include embodied cultural and social confusion; alienation in a “wired” world; and loss of beauty in a socially restricted life. In these series, which are strongly affected by the political situation of Iran, after the wane of the recent social movement, Ahadi strives to represent the sociopolitical truth of his country through a number of personal spaces dominated by a profound sense of confusion and uncertainty; the truth, which is shining in the absence of those commotions.

Bio:

Ali Ahadi is a Vancouver based photo and video artist. He received his BFA from the Azad University of Central Tehran, 2007 and is currently attending the MFA program at the University of British Columbia.

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