50 Years | 50 Stories by Equinox Gallery

July 9 – August 27, 2022 EQUINOX GALLERY

While E ino o e and loca ion ha e changed and e anded o e the years, the defining commitment to representing and exhibiting Canadian artists remains at its co e The galle long term relationships with artists and collectors remains at the core of the Equinox ethos. It is through these 20, 30, 40+ year relati onships that we are able to deeply understand and con ib e o he ignifican ole ha a la in eo le li e

50 Years | 50 Stories

Over the past 50 years, Equinox Gallery has garnered a reputation as one of the best established galleries in Canada, putting together over 400 exhibitions, including solo exhibitions for represented artists, as well as group shows that highlight parts of the community or moments of Canadian art history.

July 9 to August 27, 2022 Equinox Gallery, Vancouver Equinox Gallery is marking its 50th anniversary in 2022. In celebrating this momentous achievement the gallery is pleased to feature 50 Years | 50 Stories, a group exhibition that tells the story of significant moments, personal histories, and new beginnin gs. 50 Years | 50 Stories will be a presentation of selected highlights from artists who have exhibited at the gallery and will include painting, sculpture, video, photography, and more. Spanning decades and cultures, this exhibition will consider the dive rse development of art making in Canada. Please join us as we reflect on the past 50 years while looking forward to the next 50.

Equinox Gallery was founded in 1972 by Elizabeth Nichol whose love of art a nd desire to enrich the fabric of the city led her to establish a private gallery. The first exhibition, Clarities Portfolio by Vasarely opened in March 1972 at the 1139a Robson Street location. The 1972 exhibition program included works by Albers, Borduas , Falk, EJ Hughes, Lansdowne, Lemieux, Lichtenstein, Milne, Morrice, Segal, Gordon Smith, and Trova. By November 1974, the gallery had moved to West 8th Avenue, near Granville Street. The gallery would relocate a number of times before establishing itself at 2321 Granville for 25 years. The recent decade has seen further movement as the urban landscape changed dramatically in Vancouver. In 2012, Equinox Project Space was established at 525 Great Northern Way. Initially intended as a one year project, the space soon gained popularity despite being tucked away behind the former headquarters of Finning Tractors, and nearly impossible for visitors to find. The gallery soon found itself at the centre of a cultural hub in Vancouver, with the move of Emily Carr University to the site. In June 2020, the gallery moved to its current location on Commercial Street, nestled on the first commercial street of the city, surrounded by other small businesses.

Andy

BILL REID

Elizabeth Nichol was a close, long time friend of Bill Reid and it was a distinct honour for this gallery to work with Bill for a decade during the 1980s, helping him with the production of several magnum opus sculptures and suites of prints. One of these many major projects was a commissioned 18 foot bronze killer whale sculpture for the Van couver Aquarium. Bill worked tirelessly to reactivate and advance Haida art, bringing many innovations in technique, material, and design to this centuries old art form. At the same time, he also wanted to expand his audience beyond those few collectors of Indigenous art that existed at the time, and we were able to introduce his work to a broader viewing and collecting Forpublic.his various projects, Bill had asked the gallery to obtain a large amount of gold. The gold was acquired, delivered to the ar tist, melted, and subsequently lost. One day, I was at hi a a e he i h he edi i g de ig f R be B i kh b k A Bi hea h was in decline, he asked me to find something in the kitchen for lunch. Quite by accident, I came across the stash of gold nuggets hidden in the egg drawer of his refrigerator. He immediately went to work on the gold killer whale and other outstanding gold pieces that fea e ege da Haida c ea e O e f Bi i e c ib i Haida a a he use of repoussé, a jewelry technique he likely learned at the Ontario College of Art while studying design, where the metal is hammered out from the reverse side in order to articulate greater surface gradation. He was a brilliant, trail -blazing artist.

Bill Reid Grizzly Bear 1973 22 CT Gold Edition of 10 2 Diameter

JACK SHADBOLT

When Jack died, Doris Shadbolt phoned shortly afterwards and asked if I would represent the Shadbolt Estate I learned a great deal about editing an artist s estate when I went out to the studio he d worked in for decades to help Doris sort things She est ablished three piles Yes No Maybe Jack didn t like to throw anything out as it might prompt a future idea but in the end he benefited enormously from Doris strict curatorial acumen (gained from decades of work at the Vancouver Art Gallery) that deter mined only the good things be kept. This painting was one that came to the gallery through the estate. It was awkwardly framed and much to our surprise, when it was demounted, we discovered it was double sided. The presentation side was a delightful and personal image that Jack had gifted to Doris for Christmas in 1951. On the reverse was an earlier painting of an Indigenous village made at a time when he was working through the influences of Emily Carr and the significance of Indigeneity in British Colum bia. The painting was repurposed by Jack perhaps because it looked too much like Emily Carr but in my view it s a good work and speaks to Jack s development as a major artist Andy

Jack Shadbolt Christmas 51 / Coastal Village Gouache and watercolour on paper 36" x 195120"

GATHIE FALK

We started working with Gathie in 1980. Critics had already described her work as a veneration of the ordinary where she transformed commonplace things from her life into objects of great beauty, tremendous joy, and at times, wry humour. When she began working on her papier maché figurative sculptures where shaped, bodiless dresses of young females are sculpted in standing, sitting, or lying positions there was an underlying melancholy that also emerged in these tender works. By the 2000s when this work was made, Gathie had alrea dy mastered the mediums of clay, performance art, installation, and painting. Casting one of these papier maché works in metal was a new adventure. Joe Fafard, a fellow artist who had a foundry in Pense, Saskatchewan, invited her to make a work in bronze. As she and I drove out to the foundry in southern Saskatchewan to view the mould and select the patina, she reflected on the vast landscape which was dear to her own roots in southern Manitoba. She also recalled that Agnes Martin was born in nearby Macklin and remarked how the endless horizon of the Prairies was echoed in the straight lines of Martin s paintings This realization prompted her decision, then and there, to honour Martin by titling her first bronze sculpture, Agnes. Andy

Gathie Falk Agnes (Black Patina) 2000EditionBronze2001of7 37 x 28 x 23

Installation View 50 Years | 50 Stories

This series was exhibited in one of the very first shows when I began working at Equinox Gallery in 1981 at the 1525 W 8th Avenue location. The last 40+ years of working with Gathie have been a terrific adventure. She is by far the most spirited of the artists we represent, even now at age 94. Over the decades she has gained many loyal collectors who have watched and supported the twists and turns of her constant innovations. With a work ethic that keeps her busy in the studio on a daily basis, what Gathie impressed on me from the start was to never be late for a studio visit. Not for reasons you might t hink it was because you didn t want to be late for the strong coffee and home baked scones that she and her friend Elizabeth Klassen would generously serve upon arrival.

Andy

GATHIE FALK Pieces of Water was a large series of paintings Gathie produced using a thin wash of pigment mixed with linseed oil to depict a piece of ocean as if it had been cut out with a large knife and delivered to her studio. She selected the title from a lead news story she would have heard on CBC Radio while making the work. The ocean fills the entire canvas there is no horizon line to ground you your thoughts about the events of the day begin to dance with the waves.

Gathie Falk Pieces of Water: Terry Fox Oil1981on canvas 78 x 66

Gathie created this edition of bronze running shoes as a result of that project, as she insisted they would look excellent in ad ditional colours. She was right. Hannah

GATHIE FALK

Collaborating directly with artists to facilitate big ideas has always been one of the most fun parts of my work. In 2018 I began working with Gathie Falk on a large public art commission which would include three major sculptures : a glistening pyramid of 900 oranges, a row of many pairs of running shoes, and a series of baseball caps, all cast in bronze. Now in her 90s, Gathie knew exactly what she wanted to create for this commission but did not need to be the one to tr ade emails with the bronze foundry workers, so I was happy to assist. My visits with Gathie over the course of this project were always illuminating. I was constantly struck by her decisiveness on every aspect of her work; she always knew exactly what she wanted. When a decision was required, she never hesitated. When I asked what shade of yello w she would like her baseball caps to be, fanning out the entirety of a pantone chart in front of her she brushed it aside and simply said They must be canary yellow When I noted that one of the parties connected with the project may take issue with a certain element of the work Gathie countered with a laugh tell them to go to hell There is no arguing with Gathie Falk

Gathie Falk Red Running Shoes EditionBronze2019 of 9 12 x 10 x 5

Andy

As a soldier, he made several watercolours of a documentary nature, but he never referred to this subject matter until he began the Black Paintings in the early 90s . This series is significant for Equinox Gallery because it was these contempla tive paintings that interested us immensely and when we first showed them These works began a thirty year relationship with Gordon who would later launch our fall season with a solo exhibition every September , bringing together various communities in the cultural world. Some of the Black Paintings are brooding works of sheer abstraction, with large expanses of varied dark paint touched by occasional elements of bright colour. Others explicitly evoke his war experience with direct text references to Opera tion Husky or the Allied invasion of Pachino, while still others have real life fragments from his old kit bag or ID tag buried under the thick paint, bringing an autobiographical aspect to these works. Still others were created shortly after his wife Mari on died in 2009, which left Gordon in a period of darkness.

GORDON SMITH Gordon enlisted with the Princess Patricia s Canadian Light Infantry in Winnipeg in 1940 and as WW2 broke out, he was called to serve, suffering serious wounds in Sicily in 1943. He recovered in Tunisia and England before returning to Vancouver in 1944 whe re he resumed his art studies at the Vancouver School of Art. Whenever the subject of war came up in conversation, he would talk freely about the camaraderie of soldiers and the big battle but was reluctant to share his private memories of the atrocities h e witnessed.

Gordon Smith War Painting Acrylic2017 on canvas 60 x 67

When Equinox relocated in 2012 to a 12,000 square foot warehouse space on Great Northern Way, this new space opened up incredible opportunities to present major exhibitions in a way we could not have previously imagined. From 2012 2020, we presented a number of large -scale, museum-quality retrospective exhibitions around artists such as Fred Herzog, Gathie Falk and Gordon Smith. Gordon Smith: Entanglements was such an exhibition, utilizing the entirety of the gallery to present a survey of 70 years of artmaking by Smith, of which this painting featured prominently. -Andy

GORDON SMITH Gordon and Marion Smith were generous philanthropists and shared their Arthur Erickson designed home with others for dinners and evening discussions. This house was also their refuge from the world, as it is so closely aligned with the natural work that surrounds it. It was not until I spent several months at the house after Gordon died that I began to recognize many of the trees around the house as those in his prints and paintings. The Byway trees, the density of the entanglements, the reflection pond, th e rough rock faces: they are all in the vicinity of the house and served as raw material for Gordon s expressive representations of the rugged west coast landscape

Gordon Smith North Shore #5 Acrylic2012 on canvas 60 x 96

Andy

The painting support has been interrogated with equal intensity by Teng. In earlier works the traditional canvas ground has been ruptured, then the support was omitted entirely and replaced by paint itself (in the crocheted works which do not rely on the presence of canvas to hold the paint because the paint holds itself), and now, the artist is crocheting and stretching her own linen supports or using found doilies then taking advantage of their open weave to push paint forward from the rear. In all cases, the artist implicates traditional women s work craft practices such as flocking, crocheting, and knitting that produce functional objects with an aesthetic dimension that also decorates the home. She involves traditions that continue to be passed down through generations of women, as in her case from grandmother, to daughter, and to granddaughter. The subject of the floral still life is also a conscious recovery of a painting style that has spanned centuries of creativity. In French and Dutch, 'still life' translates into nature morte and stilleven, both referencing a dead nature While seemingly joyful thi s historical reference for works that are created now at a time when nature itself is in crisis, makes these delightful works even more poignant.

ANGELA TENG

One of the great joys of representing artists over many years is seeing the evolution of their work. I think of this when I think of Angela Teng it has been wonderful to see her ideas and the physicality of her work grow and evolve as she continues to push the limits of paint as an artistic medium. She has shaped paint into long, firm, string like extrusions that she crochets into rectangular shapes much like a blanket; she has dusted it as flocking onto a painted canvas to denote its extraordinary fragility; and now she pushes it through a loose support from the reverse so that the first bit of paint emerging from the back is what s actually visible when viewed from the front (which is the opposite of a traditional additive painting process where the final layer is what remains visible).

Angela Teng Bouquet with Sunflowers Oil2022through doily 36 x 24

FRED

HERZOG

When Fred joined the gallery in 2006 at age 75, he was about to begin a career as an artist that had largely eluded him. When technology caught up, in 20 05 he was able to transfer the exceptional intensity and colour of his slide images onto archival paper through a digital pigment process, maintaining the high saturation of bold colour especially the distinct Kodachrome red that he had previously only bee n able to achieve in slide form. With this possibility to make physical prints, I worked closely with Fred to develop the scale and edition sizes of the images that passed the strictest process of editing to constitute a life s work Museum exhibitions cr itical essays in major publications, and collector interest have all followed and continue to grow. While the introduction of Fred s work to the wider world has been a long and carefully conceived process in order to rightfully insert him as an early pract itioner in the history of New Colour photography his meteoric rise internationally has surpassed even my own expectations As the critic Geoff Dyer wrote in The New York Times Herzog is one of the pioneers who mastered colour photography before such a thing respectably existed Andy

Fred Herzog s story is a remarkable one As a refugee he arrived in Canada in 1952 with little more than a desire to make a new life for himself away from the massive destructions of war he had experienced in Germany. For almost 7 decades, he walk ed the streets of Vancouver (and dozens of other cities he visited) with his Leica camera, using mostly slide film to record the nuances of urban life. Fred had a relationship to the city; he favoured downtown, East Vancouver, Chinatown, where there was a density in the visual field and an aging patina on the storefronts and street signs. Fred perfected his craft having gained years of technical experience as a medical photographer by day at St Pauls and UBC hospitals and he instinctively knew the shutter s peed and focal point to use for maximum density and image sharpness as he pulled out his camera to capture a fleeting gesture. While he took tens of thousands of shots in his quest to capture the moments of life being performed in a constantly changing urb an realm, he understood that photography is in fact a medium of editing at every step of the process.

Fred Herzog Man with Bandage Archival1968 pigment print Image size 20 x 29 ½

With Fred s passing in 2019 it has been an enormous and meticulous process to assess the artistic content of his estate, to review again over 100,000 original images. Much to our surprise, we discovered a number of rare, black & white vintage photographs printed by Fred himself in the 1950s and 60s. As early works, they already carry the hallmark of Fred s style but do not necessarily include the diligent labeling system of his slides and so it has been a project to place and date many of these images. Desperate to date this particular photograph Chantelle and I googled the balloon s inscription N9074H which led us to Tony Fairbanks founder of the Balloon Club of America. We learned that this balloon La Coquette belonged to Fairbanks and was loaned to film director Michael Todd for his 1955 film Around the World in 80 Days . The balloon toured to various cities after the film was released and arrived at the PNE in 1958 for Vancouver s International Trade Fair In this image a pilot and a Vancouve r Sun reporter are lifting off from the ground, only to land 40 minutes later in a North Vancouver backyard. We learned they were denied port in the first yard on account of a resident worried it would damage her fruit trees, so luckily two boys on the ground helped tow them to a neighbouring yard. Our research often yields interesting results, but this was particularly juic y! Hannah

FRED HERZOG

Fred Herzog Crowd Silver1958 gelatin print Image size 9 ¼ x 7 ½

FRED HERZOG

Fred was an obsessive photographer and a very funny man He would always say I don t like to come home empty handed after a day of walking and shooting He particularly liked the back alleys around Commercial and 1 st Avenue. He also really liked th e coffee and ice cream at Café Calabria Marcello s was his favourite for pizza and while he didn t tolerate most tag a longs, he always seemed happy to have me at his side when I was able to join him for photo excursions.

Christel Herzog once asked me if I knew how to work on Excel spreadsheets Yes of course I do Would I come over and help do inventory? They w ould pay me an hourly wage I said Just give me a snack and I m happy to help I would go over every few months and spend about 30 minutes updating the database, something that would have taken Christel many hours. The three of us, Fred, Christel, and I, wou ld then sit down for a simple dinner, usually cockaleekie soup, smoked salmon, salad, and a small dessert. It s always special when you can spend time with the artist and their family You get to ask more personal questions and learn more about their stori es.

Watching Fred see his photographs in printed form was always an extraordinary thing. In the early years, he would come to the gallery but as he got older and was less mobile, I would bring over to his house 30 or 40 pictures for him to sign often large works at 28 x 38 not a size of paper that is easy to handle He d begin signing the back and inevitably he would say oh let s look at this one With a grand gesture I would flip it over on the dining room table. Fred would look carefully at all the details and colour of the image a nd with a wink he d say this one s pretty good huh -Sophie

Fred Herzog Paris Cafe Archival1959 pigment print Image size 20 x 29 ½

Mary s process of painti ng was a painstaking and time -consuming one. In the early 1990s, I proposed a portfolio project of 10 woodblock prints titled Transformations that she worked on from 1993 2002. At the suggestion of Takao Tanabe, t he woodblock prints were the product of a 9 year creative exchange with Japanese master printmaker Masato Arikushi and although she didn t travel a great deal his Vancouver studio necessitated regular visits to Vancouver that always involved memorable meals with friends. The result of this produc tion, as curator Emily Flakey describes, was a breathtaking suite of carefully observed mediations on still life as an expression of the transitory nature of existence This painting was produced during this same timeframe where the luminescence of light is dramatic, and the mundane has been lifted to the monumental.Andy

MARY PRATT Equinox Gallery represented the work of Mary Pratt, the iconic Newfoundland photo realist whose uncanny representations of domestic subjects continue to be loved by Canadians. She explored the domestic realm of the female with intensity, sensitivity and often, with sadness. I maintain this painting is undeniably her very best, with a quality of light that is sublime. This image has been turned into a stamp by Canada Post, used for the cover of Goose Lane Edition s monograph and produced as a poster Its ex hibition history is extensive having been a key work in Mary s solo touring exhibitions that crossed Canada as well as in the National Gallery s retrospective and in exhibitions that cumulatively attracted tens of thousands of visitors. Indeed, working with and lending works to public galleries and museums is a priority for Equinox, as is using our influence with collectors to persuade them, in turn, to share their works with a larger public when called on by curators to do so.

Mary Pratt Jelly Shelf Oil1999on canvas 22 x 28

Andy

It has been a pleasure to work with Devon since 2019 . When she lived in this neighbourhood, it was an equal pleasure to have her visit the gallery while out on walks with her young family. Devon has exhibited at local, national , and international galleries, received a Mayor s Arts Award and is regularly commi ssioned to make public artworks throughout the Lower Mainland where she incorporates her thoughtful observations of the site. Specificities of location are also present in her gallery work, especially her Walking Spectrum series. These works begin with wal ks to favoured locations, places that are rich with architectural structures specific qualities of light and as inbetween spaces, they offer unusual signs of urban life and blight. After this active process of walking and looking, she cuts glass and so lders it together into abstract compositions that reference the original site, but are not exact portraits of it. Often incorporating pieces of found detritus from the location these works reveal the artist s nuanced understanding of light, shadow, space, and the process of urban decay and renewal that are always at play in our neighbourhood s.

DEVON KNOWLES

Devon Knowles Walking Spectrum, III, ii, S18 G2019lass, plastic lid, plastic straw, paper straw cover, plastic bread tab, plastic flagging tape, lead, tin, steel, paint 24 x 24 x 3

This lightbox was made shorty after Sonny s graduation from Emily Carr University in 2002. Several works of this early period reference pop culture that he suffuses with humour, wit, and politics. Raised in the suburbs, Sonny made drawings much of his early life, primarily images of his superheroes, but this work is differen t. It proclaimed his Indigeneity with a territorial acknowledgement that was long overdue, and it caught people s attention -Andy

SONNY ASSU

Sonny Assu Coke Salish (Urban Totem Series) Duratrans2006 and light box Edition of 5 24 x 35

I started at Equinox in the summer of 2019 and one of the first exhibitions I had the pleasure to work on was S onny Assu, Tłakwa. This exhibition engaged with copper as its main subject in material, concept, and form. The show was constructed of two major installations and a series of new collaged works on paper using comic books. Our preparator was away and in a b id to impress my new colleagues I said I could hang the exhibition I can t help but feel this was a full circle moment as some of the first artworks I ever installed in a professional gallery were Sonny Assu s comic book pieces included in Ready Player T wo at the Reach Gallery Museum. During my undergrad I had participated in a curatorial internship, and it was during this time that I first met Sonny. He was as gracious then as he is now; I recall Sonny taking the time to thank every single person who was helping with the installation no matter how small a role. After travelling for three years, the works included in Ready Player Two returned to Equinox and it has been such a joy to help clients add these wonderful works to their collections.

Chantelle

SONNY ASSU

Sonny Assu continues to explore the way that language and myths can straddle multiple cultures and times by adding a Kwakwaka wakw dimension to western pop culture.

Comic books play a reoccurring role in his practice and have played a part in my journey to joining the team at Equinox Gallery.

Sonny Assu Subscribe now and save! Acrylic2017 paint, acrylic ink, acrylic medium, Marvel comic book pages on panel 51 x 33

Installation View 50 Years | 50 Stories

When Elizabeth Nichol started Equinox Gallery in 1972, Vancouver still had little in the way of commercial gallery infrastructure Ace, Bau Xi, New Design Gallery were the notable ones. The niche Elizabeth first occupied was American prints by Abstract Expr essionists and Pop artists. Working with American galleries, she was able to present several exhibitions of International postwar artists. In the late 1970s, this included the British artist David Hockney, who spanned the mediums of painting, printmaking, stage design, collage, photography, and made a significant impact on Pop Art. Having relocated to Los Angeles in 1964 his work embraced LA s ubiquitous swimming pools and palm trees that were the subjects of paintings that subsequently became astonishingl y popular. Along with the original prints that Elizabeth featured, several works have come through the gallery from the secondary market and we have been pleased to offer them to collectors looking to add an international dimension to their Dcollections.

DAVID HOCKNEY

avid Hockney s Café with Palm Tree and Clouds is an early drawing for the set design of Parade Triple Bill performed in 1981 at the Metropolitan in New York. The Triple Bill consisted of three French operas initially performed in 1916 1917, both the scener y and costumes for the original Parade were designed by none other than Pablo Picasso. This drawing is for the second opera: Les Mamelles de Tiresias , set in Zanzibar, an imaginary town in France. For the revival performance Hockney captured the palpable s pirit of Picasso referencing his modern predecessor s motifs in every stage as evident in his reprisal of the former artist s stage curtain Hockney had worked on stage design several times throughout his career and during the production of Parade , Hockney produced several drawings. Café with Palm Tree and Clouds exemplifies how such drawings were crucial for the development of Hockney s playful cubist inspired world.

Andy

David Hockney Cafe with Palm Tree and Clouds Surrounded by Curtains Coloured1979 crayons on paper 14 x 17

contemplation.Andy

SHAWN HUNT

Shawn Hunt is a relative newcomer to Equinox Gallery. I first encountered his work when he won the BC Creative Achievement Awards for First Nations Art in 2012. Since then, he has received much acknowledgment including his virtual reality Transformation Ma sk that was commissioned by Microsoft I am always impressed by Shawn s keen sense of line that has developed through an extensive drawing practice, and his deep understanding of three dimensional space that is palpable even in his paintings. While Shawn s work owes much to his Heiltsuk heritage, he is endlessly subverting and transforming traditional designs and motifs into new configurations that reward extended

Shawn Hunt Eagle Ancestor Acrylic2022 on canvas 48 x 36

Installation View 50 Years | 50 Stories

Shortly after I started at Equinox Gallery my boyfriend s mom showed me a well kept catalogue of a Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition in 1988 and a newspaper clipping of the exhibition review it was Neil Wedman s solo exhibition Death Ray. She told me that she and her sister both had Neil as art instructor in the 1980s and she admired his exquisite drawings as well as his teaching style. After my first studio visit to Neil s I realized how accurate the word exquisite is to describe Neil s practice the easily smudged pencil and crayon mediums magically become so tidy and neat in his works. This precise sensibility is also perfectly illustrated in his Newspaper series: patiently laid out, those varied tones and strokes gently mimic a newspaper page that exu des nostalgic sentiments as less and less people read their morning paper at breakfast while indulging in the smell of freshly brewed coffee that somehow blends with the fresh ink. The joyful and peaceful feeling this work delivers echoes Neil Wedman s cha risma epitomized in the classic suit the deep charming voice and the gentleman s manner -Lulu

NEIL

WEDMAN

Neil Wedman Newspaper #6 Pencil2011 and India ink wash on paper 27 x 22

NEIL WEDMAN

Neil Wedman s approach to art making is highly conceptual. He investigates archives and historical files to surface subjects that are not easily or typically represented a curtain, an underwater volcano, or the front page of a newspaper enlarged tenfold. The results are sublime depicti ons of images that swim in a sea of exquisite marks. I also appreciate Neil s encyclopedic knowledge of contemporary music and his uproarious laugh.Andy

Neil Wedman Spotlight #5 Acrylic2017 on canvas 78 x 60

In 2020, at the height of a global pandemic, Equinox Gallery moved to 3642 Commercial Street. We quickly learned that the area now known as Cedar Cottage was rooted in history thanks to the interurban tram system. Centered around Commercial Street, between 15 th and 20 th Avenues, the epicentre of Cedar Cottage served as a bustling commercial hotspot in the 1900s. The area included a movie theatre, a bank, a hardware store, and later, a roller coaster. In fact, the exact location that houses Equinox Gallery was the Cedar Cottage Theatre (c.1910), a theatre that showed silent movies. The Depression of 1913 deemed the theatre a sort of luxury and subsequently closed before a commercial warehouse was built on the property.

Ed Ruscha s The End emulates projections of poorly preserved feel reels. The phrase The End is written in a black gothic style typeface, occupying the centre of the picture like it would in the final frame of a traditional Hollywood movie. Ruscha first began producing this series of works in 1991 in Ve nice, California and continued the variations through to 2006. Playing tribute to the imminent obsolescence of film technology, The End pays homage to the theatre that once occupied our address. Chantelle

EDWARD RUSCHA

Edward Ruscha The End 15/50Lithograph1991 26 x 37

BOBBIE BURGERS

I recall my first studio visit with Bobbie in 2017 and her eagerness to develop her practice towards a deeper exploration of transformation, decay, and metamorphosis ideas that have engaged her for over a decade. Her first exhibition at Equinox later tha t year when this piece was first shown highlighted an evolving confidence in her sweeping gestures and bold compositions that have captivated audiences here and around the world. As Momus founder Sky Goodden describes in Bobbie Burgers: Natural Disorder, Burgers s practice is an envelope of art historical shorthands she zooms across our pictorial history, from the delicate articulation of Chinese scroll painting to the explosive feeling depth and gesture of the baroque from Cezanne s fractured still lifes to the humid press of Picasso s found -object photojoiners. Between these, I return to something Frank Stella said upon reflecting on his own objective What the best art does, is give us the best of both worlds the perceptual and the pictorial Bobbie s rigorous work ethic and enthusiasm for challenging herself continues to take her work in new directions, as witnessed in her most recent suite of collaged paintings. It is a delight to represent an artist with such an exploratory practice.

Andy

Bobbie Burgers Emerging from the Shadows Acrylic2022 on canvas 80 x 60

This is one of my favourite Doig paintings and I am so happy that I responded to Ann Webb s phone call over a decade ago in search of a buyer for this work being sold to support Canadian Art magazine (now sadly defunct). It reminds me of my own canoeing trips at the edge of wilderness a phrase Doig has used to describe every place in Canada. Of course, the work also referenc es this country s historical painters especially Tom Thomson who died in a canoeing accident and David Milne whose expressive landscapes verged on abstraction. One day while visiting Vancouver, Doig came to Equinox and overheard me talking about Milne. An intense discussion about Milne s handling of paint and his approach to representation/abstraction ensued his early references not forgotten. -Andy

PETER DOIG

Peter Doig Look Out Oil1994on canvas 8 x 10 David Milne Houses at Mount Riga 1922 Watercolour on paper 21 ½ x 24 ¾

Andy

E.J. HUGHES Elizabeth Nichol founded Equinox Gallery in 1972 at a time when there were few commercial galleries featuring contemporary art from here and elsewhere. In a matter of years, it became one of Canada s leading galleries introducing works by Americans eastern Canadians and contributing to the rising careers of several BC artists. Liz was a remarkable person and I enjoyed working with her very much. She and her husband , John, were keen on the work of E.J. Hughes and presented several exhibitions of his paintings which they also collected for themselves to serve as constant reminders of our West Coast location.

E.J. Hughes Finlayson Arm, Saanich Inlet Watercolour1997 on paper 27 ¾ x 33 ½

Ad in Time Magazine, February 5, 1979

An invitation from Takao Tanabe s first exhibition at Equinox Gallery in March 1974

TAKAO TANABE Equinox Gallery has prided itself on its longterm relationships with artists, and the longest of these is with Takao Tanabe. Liz Nichol began working with Tak in 1974 and the gallery has presented over 30 exhibitions of his remarkable prints, paintings, and drawings that are recognized by institutions and collectors across the country Tak s depictions of the west coast landscape evoke a spirit of this place that is at once glorious and sublime. At the age of 9 7, he remains active as an artist, splitting hi s time between Errington on Vancouver Island and Vancouver. In addition to the many prestigious public and private collections where Tak s work is represented, he has been the recipient of just about every major distinction in Canada, including the Governor General s Award in Visual Art the Audain Prize Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts, the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada, as well as a number of honourary degrees. Despite these accolades and the austere tone of his work, Tak doesn t take himself too seriously If you re lucky enough to visit Tak s home and studio as I was last summer and he gives you a tour, you may notice that every one of these awards has been prominently displayed, framed, one on top of another, floor to ceiling like wallpaper in the bathroom -Hannah

Takao Tanabe English Bay: 4/87: Bowen Island Acrylic1987 on canvas 44 x 96

Installation View 50 Years | 50 Stories

ROBERT ADAMS

For three years I attended the Banff School of Fine Arts and focused on photography . I became deeply engaged in the work of Robert Adams who was documenting the complexity of landscapes in America, noting the edges of urban development and its encroachment on nature. For me, Adams was an icon and remains one of the most influential artists of late 20th century photography The Vancouver Art Gallery s 2010 survey exhibition of Adam s exacting black and white prints remains one of the most outstanding exhibitions I have ever viewed.

Andy

Robert Adams Southwest from the South Jetty, Clatsop County, Oregon 1990 1995 Silver print 8 7 8 x 11

Perhaps part of th e slow ascendance of Muybridge comes from his complex persona. While at the University of Pennsylvania he asked to speak to the Board to explain why he was incorporating nude models in his sequential photographs. The outraged artist insisted that his proje ct was about movement and to prove it he would use his own aging body as a subject. One of the images you are viewing here is a very rare image of that selfie.Andy

Eadweard Muybridge was a very important photographer and inventor who had a profound influence on photography, painting, conceptual art and 21 st century technologies such as photoshop and gifs. Muybridge was brilliant at using the camera to make sequential images, helping us understand the relationship of time and space.

EADWEARD MUYBRIDGE

A major incentive in his career came in 1872 from California Governor Leland Stanford. Stanford was obsessed by horse racing, and he bet a fellow enthusiast that when galloping, all four legs of the horse come off the ground at the same time. Fortunately, Stanford was rich and determined, and co mmissioned Muybridge with $50,000 (in 1870s money, more like $1.5M today) to test his history. After five years of trying, plus a murder in between the artist was acquitted Muybridge s studies of movement proved Stanford s assumption to be correct He continued his motion studies of humans and animals of all sorts at the University of Pennsylvania, and with the help of a gifted team of technicians, he conceived and printed portfolio of collotypes that have become seminal in the history of photography. I n the museum world the lack of an important exhibition of Muybridge s work has been perplexing, until recently when the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DV and the Tate Britain teamed up for an exhibition and related publication.

Eadweard Muybridge Plate 521 - Nude man walking; ascending a step; throwing a dis k, using a shovel; using a pick Collotype1887 Paper size 19 x 24

Andy

LEE FRIEDLANDER

My experiences at the Banff School of Fine Arts in the late 1970s was a catalyst for a lifelong interest in photography. When I spoke up as a student and said I wanted to meet Lee Friedlander the seminal artist who developed a visual language of the social landscape he was immediately invited to the Centre as a guest artist and I was to pick him up at the airport. On the two hour ride from Calgary to Banff, a wicked snowstorm came up and it took all of my concentration to keep the Banff Centre station wagon on the road. Nevertheless, Lee insisted that we stop to take p ictures and the trip was animated by an enthusiastic discussion about photography. To remove the emotional attachment around the moment the image was taken (with his hand -held Leica), Friedlander saved his film in the refrigerator for two years until devel oping it It was then that I realized that photography is in fact a rigorous process of editing, in the myriad decisions from inception to finished product. I have tried to use that rigor of editing in my life as a gallerist and have applied it over the ye ars while working with many great artists estates such as Fred Herzog and Jack Shadbolt.

Lee Friedlander New City Gelatin1999 silver print Image size 15 x 15

GEOFFREY JAMES

Geoffrey and I have an ongoing dialogue about photography and for this exhibition I invited him to select an image that is his personal favourite. Not unlike the great artists who came before him (including Robert Adams and Walker Evans, both shown here), Geoffrey s deep observation of his surroundings is paired with an insightful political and social analysis of our world. His investigations have taken him to the idealized spaces of European and North American formal gardens and parks, to the wastelands of mines and border towns, all the while producing photographs that offer the viewer a rich glimpse into the places documented by James. This subtle image he selected is the perfect Geoffrey James picture because it illustrates the way that Geoffrey s mind works when deciding what to photograph On one side of this images is a Roman aqueduct, a testament to human innovation and a defining architectural feat of civilization. On the other side and throughout the image are trees and natural elements which have staked their own space within a complicated environment over hundreds of years. Additionally, what is amazing about this picture and fundamental to Geoffrey s brilliance as a photographer is his ability to take a photograph in the most difficult technical terrain in this case, pointing directly into the sun and still make a phenomenal image.

Andy

Lee Friedlander Acqueduct Claudio, Rome Ink1989jet on archival baryta paper Paper size 17 x 22

Eugene Atget, Walker Evans and Berenice Abbott have each adopted and adapted the ethos of the flaneur as a wandering observer of the events of urban life. I acquired work by these three pillars of the history of street photography for a show on storefronts that was conceived to offer a larger context for the work of Fred Herzog. As we continue to exhibit Herzog s work here in Vancouver and internationally for example at Paris Photo and Paris Photo Los Angeles, it is important for us to provide a global con text for his work by situating his remarkable oeuvre squarely alongside the candid and striking nature of these and other photographers, each expanding the boundary between artistic expression and documentary record.

BERENICE ABBOTT

Andy

Berenice Abbott Chicken Market Silver1937 gelatin print 10 x 8

WALKER EVANS Walker Evans is hailed as the progenitor of the documentary tradition in American photography. Having influenced generations of artists, he spent over 50 years recording everyday American culture and is best known for his documentation of small town American life during the Great Depression of the 1930s, creating a portrait of a society that remains profoundly intimate, poetic and incisive. This image depicts the kitchen in Robert Frank s home in Cape Breton Nova Scotia Frank was deeply influenced by Evans and produced his own remarkable project documenting American society three decades after Evans This photograph can be viewed as Walker Evan s tender acknowledgement of his f riendship and support of the next generation of visionary photographers . -Andy

Walker Evans Fish Market near Birmingham, Alabama 1936; printed in 1971 Silver21/100print 7 1 2 x 9 3 8

ANDY WARHOL

Liz may have been especially interested in images of Queen Elizabeth as she ser ved as her lady-in-waiting during the 1983 royal visit to Canada. Andy

Elizabeth Nichol sought to energize Vancouver s visual art scene She did this by supporting many local artists through exhibitions at Equinox Gallery and by introducing the work of international figures such as Andy Warhol, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein , Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Claes Oldenburg. In early 1987, the planning for an Andy Warhol exhibition was well underway. Unfortunately the artist died unexpectedly around the time of the opening, bringing much unforeseen but welcome attention to our exh ibition of prints. Among the featured images were works from the Reigning Queens series where Warhol treats the British Queen as a celebrity rather than a reigning monarch, using her official 1977 Silver Jubilee image as a foundation for his manipulations.

Andy Warhol Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (Red) Screenprint26/401985 on Lenox Museum board 39 3 8 x 31 1 2

Since the 1970s, Equinox Gallery has presented a number of important solo exhibitions of work by Indigenous artists in British Columbia, including Sonny Assu, Dempsey Bob, Shawn Hunt, Marianne Nicolson, Bill Reid and Angus Trudeau. In strengthening our commitment to highlighting the rich history of Indigenous art production in our province, I collaborated with renown dealer Donald Ellis in organizing two exhibitions featuring rare historical and contemporary Indigenous artworks, which is when I first encoun tered the work of Ellen Neel.

Andy

ELLEN NEEL

Ellen Neel was a trailblazing Kwakwaka wakw artist who was one of the first professional female carvers. She was an ardent advocate of Indigenous rights and as early as the late 1940s was urging the Canadian government to support the work and ideas of Indi genous artists. She established the Totem Arts Shop in Stanley Park where she sold her own work and that of other Indigenous artists. Her work was highly regarded and was commissioned locally and abroad Neel s unpainted cedar masks that emphasize the grai n of the wood, are especially compelling. This Dzunuk’wa mask references the Wild Woman of the Woods, a supernatural being that roams the forests and serves as a deterrent to children who wander too far from home.

Ellen Neel Tsonoqua Mask circa Cedar1960 16 ½ x 10 ¼ x 6 ¾

ADAD HANNAH

Adad Hannah s Studio Portraits are a great example of how the Covid 19 pandemic produced new kinds of communities and highlighted different ways of working. The subjects of the Studio Portraits were gleaned from people Adad met while working on the Social Distancing Project, where stra ngers were photographed and filmed during the very early days of the pandemic. Beautifully composed, the Studio Portraits are energetic and quirky, combining the personalities of both the sitter and artist. The videos are compelling at first glance but equ ally meditative and elegant, encouraging a longer viewing experience. There are a few different ways that I have come to know artists. Many were already part of the gallery roster when I began at Equinox. Others have joined later and I have gotten to know them over the years With Adad Hannah it s been quite a different experience (as most things are with Adad, to be honest). I have known Adad since I was 12 years old, when he was in high school with my older sister. As enthusiastic then as he is now, Adad s unusual upbringing was always on my radar I had known that he had achieved recognition in his artistic practice while living in Montreal, but was better known to me as my sister s high school friend Upon Adad s return to Vancouver around 2013 he approached us about working together. It was a good fit and we were, and continue to be, very happy to have him on board. Knowing a person for a long time enlists trust and comradery.Sophie

Adad Hannah Studio Portrait (Young Man in Blue Sweater) 2021 Archival pigment print Edition of 3 24 x 36 Adad Hannah Studio Portrait (Young Woman in a Sweater II) 2021 Archival pigment print Edition of 3 24 x 36

ETIENNE ZACK Beijing Notes is a book comprising multiple ink drawings that Etienne Zack created in his studio while in Beijing during his two residencies in 2020. There is no Forbidden City, no National Stadium, no Tiananmen Square, the drawings only depict a random area of 5 th ring NE that Etienne encountered while walking and biking due to the lockdown restrictions in Beijing during early Covid. These drawings of various quiet corners of a seemingly empty Beijing a city of 21 5 million people and never quiet hold the artist s memories of this metropolis during an unforeseen pandemic. Even though the subject matter is not a typical depiction of Beijing, the entire book is drawn on xuan paper a traditional paper made of mulberry leaves and widely used for Chinese calligraphy and painting. The first and last page of the book are decorated with gold flakes, which typically indicates that the paper was utilized for an important event. Here, the traditional medium intertwines with a modern city under siege, providing a unique perspective on Beijing. Lulu

Etienne Zack Beijing Notes Archival2020 ink on xuan paper 13 ¾ x 240

In the early days of our gallery s location at Great Northern Way Sophie curated a massive group show of collage, incorporating the work of about 30 artists in our new 12,000 square foot space. Seeing the potential for large scale, Etienne had the idea to create a monumental 9 x 10 foot mixed media work based on the idea of visually zooming in on the surface of a canvas at a microscopic level. The work would be constructed directly in the gallery out of paper and glue, and its scale would be nearly the ful l height of the wall. I recall Andy being excited about this idea of giving the gallery over to Etienne for a week to create it in situ. As a new gallery assistant, this project became my sole focus for that time: we took over the gallery with Etienne, ass embled several helpers all working in batches to rip up strips of cardboard, soaking them in glue to soften them, scrunching them up into small bunches to simulate the threads of canvas fabric and affixing them to a giant wire net all to be muscled up onto the wall by all of us shortly before the exhibition opening I loved being part of supporting Etienne s singular vision for this massive work. It was not at all what I thought my first few months of my new job would entail, but it was indicative of a creative process that was heaps of -fun.Hannah

ETIENNE ZACK

Etienne Zack was the first artist with the gallery that I met in person after I was hired, and my nerves were immediately calmed by his warm welcome Since then it s been a total joy to follow the ways in which Etienne s wildly vivid imagination finds its way into his paintings, as he does not work from photographs and paints largely what he sees in his head, drawing from ideas he is curious about, often enriched by the most recent stack of non fiction publications that he s consumed with His inventive app roach to his art has taken many forms not least of which is this series of book paintings which Etienne once described to me as what it might look like if you opened up a hard drive

Etienne Zack Consolidate Oil2019on canvas 42 x 52 ¼

One thing I already knew about Dempsey bu t was made even more evident than during this visit was his commitment to mentoring young artists. This was instilled in him during his early years when he studied under Haida carver Freda Diesing. He often says that Freda taught him how to be an artist, a nd Dempsey honours her daily through his commitment to provide the same support and guidance for young artists in his community. When I told Dempsey I would be coming to visit, I thought I might get to see more of his work while I was there. Instead, Demps ey spent the entire day showing me the work of others We drove straight from the airport to his nephew Stan Bevan s studio so that Dempsey could show me the monumental totem pole Stan was working on. After lunch, when we visited the college where Dempsey teaches, he beamed with pride while showing me the newest works of his students Although I didn t get the behind the scenes look at Dempsey s art I thought I might I received a much deeper understanding of his values as an artist and as a person, and re main grateful for it. Hannah

DEMPSEY BOB Sometimes in our work at Equinox we have very special days, and I had one recently with Dempsey Bob. I had the good fortune of visiting Dempsey in early 2022 on his home turf in Terrace, BC, where he lives with his wife Margaret. Dempsey had completed a fe w new pieces for his upcoming exhibition and in the interest of bringing them to the gallery in time for the show, it made the most sense for me to simply fly there and bring them back down safely in my suitcase.

Dempsey Bob Untitled EditionBronze2008 of 6 15 x 7 x 5

I met Renée Van Halm when I was about 15. I was school friends with her daughter Amelia at Kitsilano Secondary School. About 15 years later, Amelia and I stopped by Renée s for dinner Half way through dinner, Renée slammed her hands down on the table and shouted Andy should hire YOU A CV was sent in interviews were held and in October 2008, I joined the gallery.

RENÉE VAN HALM

The East Gallery at 525 Great Northern Way was a monumental, voluminous space. With walls at 16 feet high and a ceiling height stretching to 25 feet, it was an imposing space and many felt that it demanded large works to match. In contrast, the works brought in for Renée s 2014 exhibition were tiny the largest measuring 12 x 12 The works in this exhibition were drawn from Renée s observations of the world around her particularly in relation to architectural and design practices. Elements of the paintings were sou rced from décor and architectural magazines, with small slices of images of modern interiors carved within large swaths of colour derived from origami paper. We installed the works on the longest wall in the gallery and they easily commanded the space, spa rkling like small gems on the large white expanse. The bright colours caught your eye and lured you in for a closer look. To witness how the space could be transformed by these works was a defining moment for understanding installations in that gallery.

Sophie

Renée Van Halm Linen Acrylic2015 on canvas 14 x 11

Al McWilliams career rose to international heights at an early age with his burning chairs dramatic modernist sculptures with raging flames at the base of their legs. I am especially fond of his photographic works of ancient reliquary that are muted by a c oating of beeswax and adjacent to sheets of lead. His more recent series of cut stone drawings presented here are deftly executed these precise curved musings completely defy their hard materiality. Al has been a friend for decades and I continue to admire his intense curiosity about materials, his ongoing experiments into abstract juxtapositions, and his absolute dedication to a studio practice that also includes public art.

AL MCWILLIAMS

Andy

Al McWilliams Dark Form I Lemurian2016 granite on aluminum 32 x 22 ½

Kim joined Equinox when he moved to Vancouver from Ontario in 2015, attracted by the larger than life nature that defines this province, which somehow aligned with his own depictions of supernatural nature as it meets urban culture. The charged colours, the heaps of paint (sometimes barely dry for the opening), the wild experiments in markmaking, the exuberant compositions, the intertwined humans and critters that occupy his worlds, all endear him to the gallery. While Kim is still painting up a storm in Ontario, we miss his in person enthusiasm for all things painted.

- Andy

KIM DORLAND

Kim Dorland How can we manage not to touch anything? Oil2019on canvas 72 x 60

The Equinox tradition of entering into representation with artists is usually the result of a contemplative and thorough journey. In 2014 I was invited to an exhibition curated by Emmy Lee Wall for the Capture Photography Festival and viewed Marten Elder s work in that installation. His work i mmediately appealed to me on many levels. I sought out the artist and was engaged by his inventive and intellectual process and shortly after asked if he would like to join to the gallery, to which he agreed.

The fact that Marten resides and works in Los Angeles is registered in the nuances of his photographs: the lush palms and succulents, the intense light, the panoply of heightened hues that all emerge in his technological experiments with saturated colour. Elder makes pictures by hacking into his came ra and supplementing the technology of a laptop with the optics of a camera In many ways like Eadweard Muybridge he invents a technical solution to achieve his desired visual outcome.

MARTEN ELDER

Andy

Marten Elder Corner on Zanja St and Alla Rd. Exposed at 11 focal points and rendered in 7 color spaces. Archival2020 pigment print on fiber based paper 2/3 21 x 28

We are delighted to have Jack with us at Equinox Gallery his inventive sculptures and paintings clearly capture the zeitgeist of this moment. I saw this piece at his solo exhibition at the Burrard Arts Foundation earlier this year, and I thought it would b e an appropriate work to share a story about the history of the gallery and its founder, Liz MyNichol.friendship and admiration for Elizabeth Nichol was immediate and unwavering. As part of our co management of Equinox Gallery Liz and I would have po licy meetings every Friday at 5pm, our version of a happy hour where we would share a drink and recap the events of the week. These meetings are a tradition I have continued with our staff ever since After Liz developed Parkinson s and was in the gallery less and less, our policy meetings were moved from the gallery to Liz and John s apartment on West 15 th Avenue. As her disease became debilitating, we made a pact there would only be good news shared at these weekly meetings. Additionally, once John becam e more heavily involved in the meetings the policy changed from wine to martinis and the quality and quantity) increased. Being a tangential part of the Nichol family has been a great gift in my life. Their friendship and the sophisticated conversations about art, politics and all manner of subjects that I ve shared over the years will remain in a special part of my memory Andy

JACK KENNA

Jack Kenna Living in a Box of Wine with You III Found2022 milk crate, stained glass, mirrors, glass bottles, corks 13 x 13 x 16

My first studio visit at Equinox Gallery was to Jack Kenna s It was during the second week after my start date, and I remember the first thing Jack said to me during that visit: hey we ve met before right Indeed we had met during an opening at anoth er gallery. This was a classic moment in Vancouver's art world. It reflects the tightness of the local art community and the supportiveness among artists, gallerists, art educators, curators, and all the people in our industry, to push towards the common g oal of establishing a cultural understanding of the city and building the distinct cultural identity of our generation It is such a pleasure to be part of Jack Kenna s representation and to witness this emerging artist begin a new career chapter in tandem with Equinox Gallery.

JACK KENNA

- Lulu

Jack Kenna Time Keeps on Slipping Oil,2021acrylic, spray paint on canvas 24 x 30

Republic Director/Curator Pantea Haghighi wasted no time working with me to pr ovide images of Gwenessa s work exhibition history texts press and other documentation which was an incredibly kind gesture of support towards both the artist and Equinox.

GWENESSA LAM

Hannah

It is an exciting moment to begin working with a new artist. When Republic Gallery closed its doors in 2021, I was thrilled that Gwenessa Lam agreed to join our team at Equinox.

For Gwenessa, each new body of work typically begins with a question. Her curr ent series focuses on the history of magic mirrors and surprisingly, it began by asking the Collections Department at the Smithsonian Museum What do you have that s broken Such an approach that's filled with complete openness and may lead absolutely anywhere resonated with me as a bold way to begin a project.

Gwenessa s meticulous research based approach is rooted in complex cultural (and often contested) histories and her process always produces challenging yet fascinating images. Mongrel Histories is a recent example: it's a series focusing on a specific group of 19th century multi -story homes located in Guongdong, China. While these buildings were originally constructed as defensive fortresses to protect against banditry, their design is now a mash up of various architectural styles, a testament to the impact of immigration to China from different parts of the world during that period. Both haunting and beautiful, these delicate graphite drawings are imbued with a powerful sense of history, while also inviting the viewer to make their own associations with the imagery.

Gwenessa Lam Cluster no.4 (Town) Graphite2013 on paper 27 ½ x 37 ¾

- Chantelle

KHAN LEE Khan Lee s sculptural practice looks to found objects as a starting point configuring familiar items into new arrangements to question our perception of objects and our surroundings. Inspired by the 1979 piece 1,000,000 Pennies by Canadian conceptual artist Gerald Ferguson, this work presents the spherical volume of 1,000,000 pennies to explore as Lee notes his interest in translation as a tool for transformation particularly as it relates to common, everyday objects. I vividly recall the day Hanna h and I picked up 1,000,000 from Khan s studio In fact it took two trips to actually transport this piece to the gallery. On the first trip, we loaded the van with several moving blankets and went off to pick up the piece. Upon arrival we quickly realize d this vast sculpture was not going to fit into our blue minivan clearly, we had not fully considered the logistics of moving this work. The following week we booked a large cargo truck and upon our second arrival, Khan was also fully prepared with a hydraulic lift dolly, and safety straps that held the piece to a special base. Khan had meticulously thought through how we would get the artwork into the truck and strap it in for safe transport to the gallery. Once we left the studio, Hannah and I called on t he assistance of professional art handler, Stephane from FYM (who just happened to be at the gallery) and Patrick, our technician, to assist with lifting the piece down and out of the truck. In total, it took five people to transport this sculpture from st udio to gallery. When I got home from work that day and my partner asked how was your day I was delighted to explain the success of moving a monumental sculpture made of 1,000,000 pennies. Our jobs require us to be involved in solving a wide array of c hallenges, and this story exemplifies how much our day to day tasks can vary.

Khan Lee 1,000,000 20 Pennies09 40 diameter

Erin McSavaney joined Equinox Gallery around 2009, when Atelier Gallery, a neighbouring business on Granville Street, closed its doors. Erin has long maintained a meticulous process of observation, beginning with extensive walks throughout the city in search of unusual views, angles, or sites that he documents photographically. From there, he works on small studies, breaking down each composition to better understand how the various elements (light and shadow, for instance) interact with each other and create intricate i nterplays of forms and colours. The final paintings reference hyperrealism while including sensitivities towards memory, the history of place and sentimentality.

Sophie

ERIN MCSAVANEY

During Erin McSavaney s exhibitions conversations in the gallery are often much more animated as visitors argue amongst themselves as to whether or not the work is a painting or a photograph. A sense of wonder or surprise slowly takes over as viewers realize the skill and contemplation required to build such intricate paintings. Adding an Erin McS avaney work to any installation guarantees dynamic and stimulating conversations with collectors. -

Erin McSavaney Echos & Rivers Acrylic2022 on canvas 36 x 54

In 2016, Greg Murdock was developing a new series of works on paper which would form the basis of his 18th solo exhibition at the gallery. As these bright, abstract, modest sized works drew on earlier geometric sculptures, we wanted the image for the maile d invitations to be taken in Greg s studio presenting both the sculptural and paper works in conversation with one another. As we wear many hats at Equinox, this was the show for which I first became the "staff photographer," and so I was fortunate to be able to spend an afternoon with Greg in his studio taking pictures. I got along well with Greg and looked forward to the shoot and the opportunity to spend more time with his work. When I arrived, we proceeded to move works around and install them in dif ferent locations on the wall --up and down, closer or further apart --and I took as many shots as I could. I had little experience with installation photography, but if Greg could tell he was patient and didn t let on As we moved the works around I began to view the works more intently, and the amoebic forms in each of the drawings really began talking to one another. All of this physical contact with the work during the shoot prompted interesting conversations about Greg's ideas. After taking what felt li ke thousands of photos, together we selected the final image for the invitation poster. When it came time to install the exhibition itself, that exercise helped inform the final installation, which in many ways mirrored the studio and was centered on a lar ge scale installation of 18 works positioned in a tight grid.

Hannah

GREG MURDOCK

Greg Murdock Echo Pastel,2015 crayon, gouache and graphite on paper 44 x 31

There are few artists in the city who are endlessly curious and highly articulate about contemporary painting. Ben is one of these knowledgeable people. He has paid his dues: studying art and art history in the UK and at UBC, teaching painting at Emily Car r University to generations of undergrads, while experimenting with ideas, form, and technique in his own rigorous practice In one of Ben s exhibitions he made elaborate drawings of the brushstrokes of a painting. Following these drawings he painted clos e ups of raindrops we have installed two of these innovative paintings here. A painting of a raindrop requires a mind that pushes the perception of what we are looking at and what we can imagine As Ben has noted If we pay attention to that it becomes u nresolved. The cultural frameworks and conceptual frameworks we apply to it don t quite fit It is very much about that back and forth between a resolved representational moment in a picture, and those when it becomes more abstract, or falls apart a little bit and becomes something other Andy

BEN REEVES

Ben Reeves Pale Blue 2013 Oil on burlap 25 x 30 Ben Reeves Flowermitt Oil2011onjute 25 x 29 1 8

Philippe Raphanel is well known and appreciated for his sumptuous, densely layered abstract paintings, often suggestive of the natural world while remaining intentionally indefinable. So, we were all quite surprised when he brought these beautifully intricate, ink drawings of Hornby Island into the gallery which were like nothing we d seen before of his work. Drawn from memory, they depict the wonderfully wild and immense landscape of the island where he maintained a studio practice for many years. Hornby Island has a long and rich history as a hive of artistic production, and it was also there that he soon met his neighbour Jack Shadbolt, who too had a home and studio on the island and who incidentally had become curious about this young Frenchman he saw painting around the neighbourhood. -

PHILIPPE RAPHANEL

Andy

Philippe Raphanel Hornby Island Memories 15 Ink2018on board 13 x 18

July 9 August 27 , 2022 EQUINOX GALLERY 3642 Commercial Street Vancouver, BC V5N 4G2