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Vancouver Art Gallery exhibit features 40 Lower Mainland artists

Large-scale contemporary exhibit features multi-generational look at art scene
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Derya Akay is one of the artists on display in the Vancouver Art Gallery's new Ambivalent Pleasures exhibit.

An upcoming exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery is mixing the works of young and old generations in a comprehensive look at the region’s contemporary art scene.

Ambivalent Pleasures is one of the gallery’s biggest exhibits of its kind, and features 40 artists from the Lower Mainland and beyond with paintings, animations, ceramics and full installations.

The idea is to highlight the region’s contemporary artwork, but in a less regular format, said co-curators Daina Augaitis and Jesse McKee.

“We really wanted as an institution to commit to give recognition to what is a really exciting and international setting here,” Augaitis said.

The pair visited 90 studio spaces of mostly emerging artists throughout the spring, but also with a few established artists who are either re-emerging or under-recognized.

Notably larger than most exhibits, Augaitis said this one reflects “how rich the art scene is right now.”

Fifteen of the artists share ties to Emily Carr University, either as faculty or as graduates, with others whose art has been seen around the world.

Said McKee: “(It’s) intense period of all of the bodies of work, together.”

Visitors will see overlapping conversations throughout, including surrealism, abstraction, and more conceptual practises, as the artists' work explores history and identity, as well as the implications of modern painting, but through textiles and sculptures.

“The artworks in the exhibition offer many possibilities for visitors to negotiate today’s complex world and these works remind us to locate the pleasures in our own experiences of encountering, considering and navigating the pluralistic conditions of today’s city,” the co-curators said.

The exhibit opens Saturday, Dec. 3 and runs until April 17, 2017.

 

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About the Author: Ashley Wadhwani-Smith

I began my journalistic journey at Black Press Media as a community reporter in my hometown of Maple Ridge, B.C.
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