New Fazakas Gallery focuses on Northwest Coast works
Beau Dick’s Bookwus Mask among pieces on display
Story
Saturday to Oct. 26 | Fazakas Gallery,
145 West 6th Avenue
Info: fazakasgallery. com
When she first started production on a documentary about Beau Dick, LeTeisha Fazakas was going to call it Maker of Monsters, after the often fearsome expressions in the artist’s masks.
But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that what she really wanted was for people to get to know the Kwakwaka’wakw carver. And so the title for the as- yet- unfinished film has become Meet Beau Dick, Maker of Monsters.
“I just watched him at gallery shows and things like that, and noticed that when people would meet him they’d have this very exciting experience,” Fazakas said. “He’s just fascinating, very spiritual and intelligent, and he can talk to anyone about anything. I realized I wanted everybody to meet Beau Dick. That’s when we changed the title.”
Gallery- goers will have their own opportunity to meet the artist this Saturday, when Fazakas opens the doors to her new gallery and its opening show, a group exhibition called Story.
“The reason contemporary art is so interesting is not just being able to walk up to a piece and pick out what’s going on there visually, but it’s also the stories the curators and artists write, and the theses artists produce for their work,” Fazakas said. “For me, that’s all story. And definitely Northwest Coast art is based in story. The piece is often a physical manifestation of a story.”
That can certainly be said for work like Dick’s Bookwus Mask.
According to Kwakwak’wakw legend, Bookwus is a supernatural being who lurks on the edges of forests and near streams, trying to lure people into his abode and entice them to eat ghost food. Dick’s mask, which is made of red cedar, acrylic paint and leather, is a frightening manifestation of a spirit — but there’s also something innocent about it as well.
“I was so intrigued with the emotion that was in his masks, and the emotion it evoked in me and other people, especially the scarier masks,” Fazakas said.
Besides Dick’s mask, the gallery walls will also hold Carlos Colin’s triptych, a series of three bathroom- mirror- size portraits of the artist with woven belts wrapped around his head.
The photos were inspired by Colin’s interest in Latin American history, Fazakas says.
“He’s interested in colonization, which holds his work close to the Northwest Coast art, because both come from circumstances of colonization.”
For the triptych, Colin collected woven belts that are “part of the history and culture of aboriginal first peoples of Guatemala,” Fazakas said.
“He took these weavings and wrapped them around his head and created this look that looks like a rebellion mask, a riot mask people would wear as they’re throwing Molotov cocktails.”
One of the show’s more striking pieces is The Eagle is Landing. It’s a piece of a telephone pole topped by a carved wooden eagle by Corey Bulpitt.
“He’s an artist who’s been working in a very traditional form of Haida art, and has been able to bring in his other interests into it, like graffiti,” she said.
As part of The Eagle is Landing project, Bulpitt travelled around East Vancouver with the pole and the eagle. The film and photos from those travels will be part of the exhibit.
Fazakas hopes the gallery will become a hub of collaboration for artists exploring new paths in both contemporary and Northwest Coast Native contemporary art.
Before opening her own gallery, Fazakas ran the Douglas Reynolds Gallery.
Before that, she received a degree from University of British Columbia in Western Art History.
“I was a little obsessed with Jeff Wall for a while,” she said. “I liked the ideas in art. I liked the theory. I liked the concepts. At the same time, I also liked beautiful things.” Fazakas also runs artWISE, an art consulting arm of the gallery.
The gallery is a culmination of her journey in the art world, she says.
“I love diversity, and I love inclusivity,” she said. “For me, this gallery is an expression of my own creativity. My gallery is going to be my work of art.”