“After all, we’re Chinese”
Made in China - mystical humility: a story of home and history
Made in China, performed at the Firehall Arts Centre February 18th-21st, begins with introductions and house lights. The relationship is informal, and puts me at ease. To learn about performers in this way feels natural rather than voyeuristic, which is how I often feel when researching artists’ backgrounds before I watch them perform. Sammy Chien, […]
Graffiti Buff
Brett Barmby at Avenue
Words by Nicole Dumas Brett Barmby’s show “7343” opened at Avenue Gallery on December 4, 2014. Practiced in the style of the Dutch masters, Barmby’s portfolio includes his humorous take on their classic still-life vanitas (mimicked with food from his own lifestyle: pizza, slurpies and pizza pockets). Recent works focus on the buffs painted — often in […]
The Next Great Adventure
Wil Aballe Art Projects debuts its new location
Written by Dillon Ramsey From the corner of Frances Street, it’s easy to see where Clark Drive turns into a maze of brick and concrete, and terminates in the industrial warehouses and freight lines of Port Metro Vancouver. It might seem strange that an elegant new art gallery would be nearby – except that this […]
Unsettled
Krista Belle Stewart at the Contemporary Art Gallery
Words by C. Stewart Photos by Scott Massey Parallax occurs when an object appears to differ when viewed from various positions. A common example is the changing appearance of a celestial body when viewed from different points on the earth’s surface. Or, the flattening of a three-dimensional space into the two-dimensional plane of a photograph. Extended […]
West Coast Transmissions
Cameron McLellan explores the space between graphite lines and our homeland
Words and photos by Jen Kennedy I hop into Robert Lynds Gallery out of a very dark and wet January night. The room is packed wall to wall with merrymaking people, who have been celebrating for some hours the opening of Cameron McLellan’s latest series West Coast Transmissions. The exhibition invite encourages the viewer to […]
Cantonese Indifference: The Language of Chinatown
越界/粵界 (transgression/cantosphere), January 22, 2015 at Centre A
Irene Lo: words Alisha Weng: photos & GIFs Ash Tanasiychuk: photos & video The original exhibition wasn’t supposed to be 越界/粵界 (transgression/cantosphere). Two catalysts that got the ball going for local interdisciplinary arts company Hong Kong Exile to collaborate with Centre A for the show: the release of Julia Kwan’s documentary about Vancouver’s Chinatown, Everything […]
A hint of death but no last rites this time.
Eschatons: The Touch and the Touched, November 14, 2014 at Dynamo
Words + Photos by Nicole Dumas The invite for this show promised to be the “final event in the devine [sic] plan: the end of the world.” Doomsday has been prophesied to occur in many ways, both natural and supernatural. Tales abound of Antichrists, saviours’ second-comings, elemental disasters, comet collisions, etc. Cult and religious […]
True Forms and Shadow Play
Carol Sawyer at Republic Gallery
Words by C. Stewart + Photos by Jon Vincent Those present at Republic Gallery for the opening of Carol Sawyer’s Shadow Puppet pressed up close to one another while chatting, maintaining a respectful yet unbidden distance between themselves and the two-channel video installation projected at the far end of the gallery. To get to a […]
NSFW: Sext Me Maybe?
Send Me Your Sexts One Year Anniversary and Release Party
Words by Brit Bachmann + Photos by Corie Waugh Send Me Your Sexts is an ongoing project by filmmaker Eileen Yaghoobian, “who’s convinced that your dirty messages should be [her] next script.” For $80, Eileen professionally reenacts sexting conversations up to 6 minutes long with a professional cast. December 13, 2014 marked Send Me Your […]
Who do they think I am… Jim Pattison?
Bah! Humbug! is A Christmas Carol with sass
Written by Brit Bachmann + photos by Alisha Weng Bah! Humbug! is a twist on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, drawing parallels between the squalor of Victorian London and Vancouver’s modern-day Downtown Eastside. This is the 5th annual year of Bah! Humbug!, with proceeds supporting Heart of the City Festival. Every year the play is […]