“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

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

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.

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.

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.

Ghost Keeper

Ahasiw Maskegeon-Iskew, Archer Pechawis, Adrian Stimson, Cheryl L’hirondelle, Sheila Urbanoski, Elwood Jimmy

Opening: Sat April 21, 1-11pm
Exhibition Dates: Sat, 21 April – Sat, 28 April, 2012

Location: On Main, 1965 Main St.   

Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 12 – 5pm

Schedule of events for Sat. April 21, 2012
1:00pm – Event starts
2:00pm – Artist Talk: L’Hirondelle (30 minutes)
2:45pm – Artist Talk: Pechawis and Urbanoski via Skype (30 minutes)
3:30pm – Panel Discussion: including L’hirondelle, Pechawis, Stimpson and Jimmy, Moderator Glenn Alteen
8:00pm – Performance: Adrian Stimson
8:30pm – Opening Reception

Ahasiw Maskegeon-Iskew, White Shame, 1992

On Main (1965 Main St.) and grunt gallery are partnering to present a group exhibition of artists responding to two works from grunt’s archive by Ahasiw Maskegeon-Iskew “Speaking the Language of Spiders”, a net art project from 1997 and “White Shame” a performance from 1992. This project is another way that grunt is Activating the Archive, and complements the recently released curated website of Ahasiw’s work at ghostkeeper.gruntarchives.org.

In response to “Speaking the Language of Spiders”, Cheryl L’hirondelle has created an audio work, and Archer Pechawis in collaboration with Sheila Urbanoski have created a website. Adrian Stimson and Elwood Jimmy will be performing works in reference to “White Shame”. In addition to these newly created pieces, the original works by Ahasiw will be presented as part of the exhibition, including a fresh edit of “white Shame”.

Among the first aboriginal artists in Canada working in New Media and Net Art, Ahasiw Maskegon-Iskwew’s work as a curator, producer and writer laid important groundwork for Aboriginal artists in these fields, his is an important voice in the development of these media within the aboriginal communities.

This exhibition will be launched with a series of performances, artist talks, and panels starting at 1pm at 1965 Main St. the opening day of the exhibition.

 

Artist: François Roux
Opening: Fri, 16 March 7-11pm
Exhibition Dates: Fri, 16 March – Sat, 31 March

Description:

H2O Cycle is a series of three videos shot in and around English Bay in Vancouver, BC. These videos were presented in grunt’s Media Lab as a loop for the duration of the exhibition.
The three videos are characterized by their relationship to water; what Roux describes as “a way of working.” Water in its various forms and resonant meanings shapes the nature of these videos.

This can be understood in contrast to another group of his videos, RGB Cycle, where colour rather than water form the basis of his working methodology. Roux’s process can be characterized by a constant back and forth between complexity and simplicity, experiment and analysis. Gradually, his work finds its place between what he has in mind and what he encounters while wandering through the landscape. This exhibition was produced in conjunction with CSA Gallery.

Bio:

Born and raised in a small French town, François Roux is a 24-year-old artist. Having completed an internship at the grunt gallery, he currently works with Vancouver artists Geoffrey Farmer, Kevin Schmidt, and Hank Bull. Until the age of 18, François came to know the urban landscape on his skateboard, alternately via skate spot reconnaissance and drunken wandering.

Watch the H20 Cycle:

Exhibition Title: Ominjimendaan/ to remember

Artist: Charlene Vickers
Opening: Thu, 23 February 2012, 7-11pm
Exhibition Dates: Thu, 23 February 2012 – Sat, 31 March 2012

Carvings in wood, grasses wrapped in fabric and hair, and a clan of turtles become signals and searchers to remember those lost or missing.

Grunt gallery is pleased to present the work of Charlene Vickers in her new installation entitled, “Ominjimendaan/ to remember”. This exhibition is comprised of a range of sculptural objects including wrapped grasses, sturdy spear forms, and stylized turtles. At the heart of this exhibition, Vickers evokes a healing space for those who have experienced loss or who are looking for someone who is missing. Within each grass stalk, spear, and turtle, memory is a source of experiential meaning both historical and personal, for maker and viewer.

History, healing and growth are themes of the early wrapped grass and fabric works. By wrapping and binding grasses and hair together with cotton and linen strips, the grasses begin to resemble bone-like forms to evoke vulnerability and recovery. The most recent wrapped grasses stand facing the viewer in relation to their own body. Emphasis on how the body and experiences of the viewer are incorporated in the meaning of the work is crucial.

Tall lengths of pointed, sharpened cedar stand balanced against a wall waiting for someone to employ them with purpose; a story, a history, an action. Resembling spears or tipi poles, one thinks of weaponry, hunting, or traditional shelters that provide protection and sustenance. The initial idea for the form of the work began when thinking of the porcupine quill and its elegant and efficient functionality as deterrent to predators.

The clan of turtles are the searchers of things lost: people, culture, languages, and histories. The clan shuffles, floats, dreams and searches to find lost sisters and family members, then slowly re-enters the land and the rivers from where they came.

This exhibition was produced in cooperation with Urban Shaman Gallery, Winnipeg.

Charlene Vickers is an Anishinabe artist based in Vancouver BC. She graduated from the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design (94) and is currently an MFA candidate at Simon Fraser University (2013). Born in Kenora Ontario and raised in Toronto her art explores her Ojibway ancestry and her experiences living and working in urban spaces. Vestige Vagabond, a performance and collaboration with Maria Hupfield was recently presented at the 2011 Santa Fe Indian Art Market hosted by the Museum of Contemporary Native Arts.

Watch the artist interview: