Evan Lee: OPEN WORK: YEARS FROM TODAY

2 November 2023 through 7 December 2023

Opening reception for the artist Thursday 2 November 2023, 6-9pm

 

Curated by Christopher Brayshaw, with a text by Kevin Chong

In his first solo exhibition at CSA Space since 2006, Vancouver artist Evan Lee presents Open Work: years from today, an installation of experimental lens-based, printed images. 

Over the past 25 years, Lee has been producing works inside and outside of photography. During this time, Lee has always been interested in the people and places of his home in East Vancouver. However, his early works demonstrated a tenuous relationship with the depiction of human subjects and he opted instead to explore them through still life surrogates such ginseng roots and dollar store objects. In particular, the motif of the elderly recurs in Lee’s conception of the city, as explored in his previous CSA Space installation, Manual Labour, and remains important in his own life, as exemplified by his large-scale photograph, Portrait of the Artist’s Grandmother. Although the city and its people have changed considerably in this time, this familiar figure remains the same.

Lee has explored the subject of elders through drawings, photographs, 3D modelling and 3D prints. In his latest exploration, Lee pairs photographs of old women with disposable paper doilies. Comprising Open Work: years from today, these temporary printed images offer a meditation on the passage of time, reflecting the paradoxical nature of memories and observances: timeless yet fleeting, fragile yet enduring. 

 

Evan Lee lives and works in Vancouver, BC. Recent public exhibitions include Forged at the Art Gallery at Evergreen, FUGAZI at Teck Gallery, SFU, Tyranny at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and Everything Under the Sun: In Memory of Andrew Gruft and Kids Take Over at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Lee is represented by Monte Clark Gallery.

Mark Tigges & Robert Stickney: AN EXHIBITION OF FUNCTIONAL & SCULPTURAL POTTERY

7 July 2023 through 20 August 2023

Reception for the artists (& open studios in the Triangle Building!) Friday 7 July 2023, 6-9pm

Curated by Christopher Brayshaw and Steven Tong

An exhibition of functional & sculptural pottery by Mark Tigges (Maple Ridge) and Robert Stickney (Vancouver)

Mark Tigges makes wood- and soda- fired works in Maple Ridge, BC. “I fire two kilns, one a so-called manabigama which I use purely for wood firing. The second is a kiln of my own design adapted from an old gas kiln from Judy Burke. I converted to fire with wood and use it for soda firing. Any pots that come out of the manabigama that are a little lackluster or just boring get a second trip in the fire getting a soda glaze. I feel the two kilns allow a wide range of work while still maintaining surface effects that are almost purely a result of how the kiln is fired. To me, the firing is where the art is made.”  Tigges’ works have been exhibited throughout the Lower Mainland, and each year in the Maple Ridge Pitt Meadows Art Studio Tour.

Robert Stickney’s wood fired pottery draws inspiration from the spirit of Japanese philosophy and sensitivity. His work has been exhibited at the Shadbolt Centre; the Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre; Circle Craft; 05 Tea Bar, and Canton Sardine.

Bernadette Phan: LIFELINES AND PORTALS

3 February 2023 through 5 March 2023
Opening reception for the artist Friday 3 February 2023, 6-9pm

Curated by Steven Tong and Christopher Brayshaw

This series of new works by Bernadette Phan build on her previous “Stipple series” (rectangular canvases with concentric lines or the ripples of an occasional wave, against a ground). These new irregularly shaped works pulse with the soft eddies and currents of stippled paint on raw plywood supports.

"I work in series that evolve over time, some of them decades. The series involve repetition, formal restrictions, dialogues between painting and sculpture, memory and illusion. In each series I undertake particular subjects: language and translation, still life as imaginary springboards, perspectives as set ups. My interest and curiosity are nurtured by making percepts that connect sense perceptions and start with the obvious, visual touch as a means to investigate haptic and proximate spaces generated through the painting medium and weaving as of late. The economy of my decisions as part of the process addresses the potency of the work instead of its potentiality. In this “Stipple series”, the texture captures light and creates its own coloured shadow. The cadence and repetition amplifies the dimensional lines as an expression of warmth and intimacy within the cosmic dance of the everyday unknown."
(Bernadette Phan)

Thanh Marie Bernadette Phan was born in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and moved to Canada with her family at an early age, via France. She received a BFA from Concordia University, Montréal, and graduated from the MFA program at Tyler University, Philadelphia, in 1997. She moved back to Vancouver that same year and has continued her studio practice in painting, drawing and weaving as of late. She has shown locally, nationally, and in Europe for the past 25 years. When not working, she likes to travel to Cambodia and Alert Bay.

All exhibited works are available for sale