Works by women headline season at local art galleries
Not so many years ago, the Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) had the dubious honour of featuring women in only 15 per cent of its contemporary exhibitions. To be fair, the low number was based on a national report of 2012. Still, the numbers were a fair bit lower than other comparable public art galleries that were in the 30 per cent range. Some were as high as 70 per cent.
It would appear the VAG has dramatically changed direction in the area of gender balance. By the time the Cindy Sherman exhibition opens later this month, the VAG will have two contemporary solo shows by women, plus a group show of Indigenous artists in which women comprise more than half of the artists. And that doesn’t include an exhibition of works by Emily Carr.
In keeping with those systemic changes, this edition of the visual arts preview is different. All the artists are women. It would appear that in one area at least, diversity has arrived at local art galleries:
LANDON MACKENZIE: RECOLLECT(S)
When: Oct. 16-Dec. 21
Where: West Vancouver Art Museum
Even as a youngster, Landon Mackenzie was surrounded by contemporary art. She grew up in Toronto in a Victorian home filled with abstract art and was encouraged to visit avant-garde galleries by her parents. Her mother’s friend was Vancouver curator Alvin Balkind who introduced her to works by Gordon Smith. For years she has been an influential teacher, artist and painter at Emily Carr University of Art + Design. The exhibition is a combination of works by Mackenzie from the past 40 years, as well as major paintings and art works from her family’s collection.
OUT OF CONCEALMENT: TERRI-LYNN WILLIAMS-DAVIDSON
When: Oct. 23-April 5, 2020 Where: Bill Reid Gallery of Northwest Coast Art
Tickets: Ranging in price from adults $13 to children under-12 free
Ancient oral traditions from Haida Gwaii are given contemporary form by artist Terri-lynn Williams-davidson, a member of the Skedans clan. In many of the works she is the model who brings supernatural beings alive using fashion and face-painting in collages and photos. One of the figures Williams-davidson becomes is Wiid Jaada (Swainson’s Trush Woman), a songbird that arrives in Haida Gwaii about the time salmon berries ripen. Others beings represented include ‘Laa.a Jaad (Fine Weather Woman), a raven who controls the northeast wind, and Jiila Kuns (Volcano Woman), an ancestor of many Eagle clans. The exhibition premiered in 2017 at the Haida Gwaii Museum in Skidegate.
CINDY SHERMAN
When: Oct. 26-March 8, 2020 Where: Vancouver Art Gallery
Cindy Sherman is such a shape-shifter. Since she started taking photos of herself in the mid-1970s she’s manipulated her appearance so much that you’re left amazed that it’s the same person. In the Instagram era self-portraits may be considered egotistical selfies, but Sherman’s are much more nuanced and enigmatic. Many aren’t flattering portraits at all. Sherman is both the model and the artist who disappears into her roles. A review by Adrian Searle in The Guardian of the exhibition, which previously was at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London, England, said that “in work after work Sherman takes on social mores and the absurdities of fashion. This is all great fun, and never a boring critique. This is always a degree of pain in her best work — the sadness of human vulnerability.” The exhibition is organized by the VAG in collaboration with the NPG.