Vancouver School
Encyclopedia
The Vancouver School of conceptual
or post-conceptual photography (often referred to as photoconceptualism) is a loose term applied to a grouping of artists from Vancouver
starting in the 1980s. Critics and curators began writing about artists reacting to both older conceptual art practices and mass media by countering with "photographs of high intensity and complex content that probed, obliquely or directly, the social force of imagery." No formal "school
" exists and the grouping remains both informal and often controversial even amongst the artists themselves, who often resist the term. Artists associated with the term include Vikky Alexander
, Roy Arden
, Ken Lum
, Jeff Wall
, Ian Wallace
, , Stan Douglas
and Rodney Graham
.
Jeff Wall's Mimic (1982) typifies his cinematographic style. A large colour transparency, it depicts a white couple and an Asian man walking towards the camera. The sidewalk, flanked by parked cars and residential and light-industrial buildings, suggests a North American industrial suburb. The woman is wearing red shorts and a white top displaying her midriff; her bearded, unkempt boyfriend wears a denim vest. The Asian man is casual but well-dressed in comparison, in a collared shirt and slacks. As the couple overtake the man, the boyfriend makes an ambiguous but apparently obscene and racist gesture, holding his upraised middle finger close to the corner of his eye, "slanting" his eye in mockery of the Asian man's eyes. The picture resembles a candid shot
that captures the moment and its implicit social tensions, but is actually a recreation of an exchange witnessed by the artist.
Stan Douglas' 1998 video installation
Win, Place or Show is shot in the style of the late-1960s CBC
drama The Client, noted for its gritty style, long takes and lack of establishing shots. Set in 1950s Vancouver in the Strathcona redevelopment, the installation explores the modernist notion of urban renewal with the demolition of existing architecture in favour of grids of apartment blocks. Two men share a dormitory room on a rainy day off from their blue-collar jobs. The conversation flares up during a discussion of the day's horse races and the 6 minute filmed loop is repeated from different angles on a split screen, each cycle presenting ever-changing configurations of point-of-view. The takes are edited together in real time by a computer during the exhibition, generating an almost endless series of montages.
In 1994 Rodney Graham began a series of films and videos in which he himself appears as the principal character: Halcion Sleep (1994), Vexation Island (1997) (shown at Canadian pavilion of the 1997 Venice Biennale
) and How I Became a Ramblin’ Man (1999). The Phonokinetoscope (2002) reflects Graham’s engagement both with the origins of cinema and its eventual demise. Graham takes up a prototype by Thomas Edison
and puts forward an argument for the relation between sound and image in film. In Rheinmetall/Victoria 8 (2003), two increasingly obsolete technologies, the typewriter and film projector, face off against one another—with the latter projecting a film of the former.
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is art in which the concept or idea involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic and material concerns. Many of the works, sometimes called installations, of the artist Sol LeWitt may be constructed by anyone simply by following a set of written instructions...
or post-conceptual photography (often referred to as photoconceptualism) is a loose term applied to a grouping of artists from Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
starting in the 1980s. Critics and curators began writing about artists reacting to both older conceptual art practices and mass media by countering with "photographs of high intensity and complex content that probed, obliquely or directly, the social force of imagery." No formal "school
Art movement
An art movement is a tendency or style in art with a specific common philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time, or, at least, with the heyday of the movement defined within a number of years...
" exists and the grouping remains both informal and often controversial even amongst the artists themselves, who often resist the term. Artists associated with the term include Vikky Alexander
Vikky Alexander
Vikky Alexander is a Canadian contemporary artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. She has exhibited internationally since 1981. Working across mediums she is a leading practitioner in the field of photo-conceptualism and is well-known as an installation artist who uses photography, drawing,...
, Roy Arden
Roy Arden
Roy Arden is a Vancouver artist.Arden has had solo exhibitions at the Ikon Gallery, Galerie Tanit and Vancouver Art Gallery. Other exhibitions at the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Museum of Modern Art, Antwerp . His work is included in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art - was featured in...
, Ken Lum
Ken Lum
Ken Lum is a Canadian artist of Chinese heritage who lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. Working in a number of media including painting, sculpture and photography, his art is conceptually oriented, and generally concerned with issues of identity in relation to the categories of...
, Jeff Wall
Jeff Wall
Jeffrey "Jeff" Wall, OC, RSA is a Canadian artist best known for his large-scale back-lit cibachrome photographs and art-historical writing. Wall has been a key figure in Vancouver's art scene since the early-1970s...
, Ian Wallace
Ian Wallace (artist)
Ian Wallace in Shoreham, England, is a Canadian artist based in Vancouver. He won the 2004 Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts...
, , Stan Douglas
Stan Douglas
Stan Douglas is an artist based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He has exhibited internationally, including Documenta IX, 1992, Documenta X, 1997, Documenta XI, 2002 and the Venice Biennale in 1990, 2001 and 2005...
and Rodney Graham
Rodney Graham
Rodney Graham is an artist and musician born in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He is most often associated with the Vancouver School...
.
History
In the early 1980s an attempt at what William Wood refers to as a "re-branding" of Vancouver and a desire for a larger recognition within Canada and internationally, the Vancouver School designation functioned to present Vancouver art to the larger international market.Key works
Candid photography
Candid photography is photography that focuses on spontaneity rather than technique, on the immersion of a camera within events rather than focusing on setting up a staged situation or on preparing a lengthy camera setup.-Description:...
that captures the moment and its implicit social tensions, but is actually a recreation of an exchange witnessed by the artist.
Video installation
Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art in the 1970s, it has increased in popularity as digital video production...
Win, Place or Show is shot in the style of the late-1960s CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
drama The Client, noted for its gritty style, long takes and lack of establishing shots. Set in 1950s Vancouver in the Strathcona redevelopment, the installation explores the modernist notion of urban renewal with the demolition of existing architecture in favour of grids of apartment blocks. Two men share a dormitory room on a rainy day off from their blue-collar jobs. The conversation flares up during a discussion of the day's horse races and the 6 minute filmed loop is repeated from different angles on a split screen, each cycle presenting ever-changing configurations of point-of-view. The takes are edited together in real time by a computer during the exhibition, generating an almost endless series of montages.
In 1994 Rodney Graham began a series of films and videos in which he himself appears as the principal character: Halcion Sleep (1994), Vexation Island (1997) (shown at Canadian pavilion of the 1997 Venice Biennale
Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is a major contemporary art exhibition that takes place once every two years in Venice, Italy. The Venice Film Festival is part of it. So too is the Venice Biennale of Architecture, which is held in even years...
) and How I Became a Ramblin’ Man (1999). The Phonokinetoscope (2002) reflects Graham’s engagement both with the origins of cinema and its eventual demise. Graham takes up a prototype by Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
and puts forward an argument for the relation between sound and image in film. In Rheinmetall/Victoria 8 (2003), two increasingly obsolete technologies, the typewriter and film projector, face off against one another—with the latter projecting a film of the former.
Further reading
- O'Brian, Melanie, ed. Vancouver Art & Economies. Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp PressArsenal Pulp PressArsenal Pulp Press is a Canadian independent book publishing company, based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The company publishes a broad range of titles in both fiction and non-fiction, and is noted for founding the annual Three-Day Novel Contest .Authors who have been published by Arsenal Pulp ...
, 2007. ISBN 978-1551522142 - Rhodes, Richard. "Newsmakers: The Vancouver School." Canadian Art Vol. 21, No. 3 (Fall 2004): 49.
- Roelstrate, Dieter and Scott Watson, eds.INTERTIDAL: Vancouver Art and Artists. Antwerp: Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen, 2005. ISBN 0-88865-785-4
External links
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vikky_Alexander
- http://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/collection_and_research/permanent_collection.htmlThe Vancouver School in the permanent collection at Vancouver Art GalleryVancouver Art GalleryThe Vancouver Art Gallery is the fifth-largest art gallery in Canada and the largest in Western Canada. It is located at 750 Hornby Street in Vancouver, British Columbia...
] - http://www.muhka.be/toont_beeldende_kunst_detail.php?la=en&id=250&subbase=archief&jaartal=2005Vancouver artists at Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst Antwerpen Antwerp, BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
] - http://www.moma.org/exhibitions/2007/jeffwall/Jeff Wall at Museum of Modern ArtMuseum of Modern ArtThe Museum of Modern Art is an art museum in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, on 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as the most influential museum of modern art in the world...
] - http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/jeffwall/Jeff Wall at Tate ModernTate ModernTate Modern is a modern art gallery located in London, England. It is Britain's national gallery of international modern art and forms part of the Tate group . It is the most-visited modern art gallery in the world, with around 4.7 million visitors per year...
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