Nov 2011 –Jan 2012 - Preview

Vignettes • November/December/January 2011/12British ColumbiaRobin LauRenceGATHIE FALK: PRESENCE AND ABSENCE Equinox Gallery, Vancouver,Nov 5-30 The centrepiece of this exhibition, by Vancouver’siconic Gathie Falk, is a freestanding, life-sizewedding veil made of papier-mâché, weighed down by bigrocks, and charged with metaphysical intent. Also on view inthis show are Falk’s sculptural depictions of men’s shirts andwomen’s dresses, paintings of shirting on vellum, and a neverbefore-exhibitedpile of bronze snowballs, symbolically titledArsenal.Gathie FalkGREGG SIMPSON: OUT OF THE WOODS Evergreen Cultural Centre,Coquitlam, Nov 18-Dec 10 A longtime presence in Vancouverand widely exhibited abroad, Gregg Simpson is showing threedifferent bodies of work based on ideas of landscape, actualand symbolic. Working in the traditions of both Surrealismand Lyrical Abstraction, Simpson explores the West Coastrainforest, First Nations totem figures, and the impact of preindustrialart on early Modernism.RICHARD SUMNER: BENTWOOD Inuit Gallery, Vancouver, Nov 19-Dec 9 Award-winning Kwakwaka’wakw artist Richard Sumner ishighly esteemed for his beautiful bentwood boxes. Derivingfrom centuries-old tradition, each bentwood box is a demandingobject to make, and Sumner is truly a master of his art form,steaming, shaping, carving and painting red or yellow cedar torealize his elegant and accomplished designs. His outstandingwork has been commissioned and collected across North Americaand around the world.DIVYA MEHRA: THE PARTY IS OVER Artspeak, Vancouver, Nov 26-Jan 28, 2012 Multimedia artist Divya Mehra takes on postcolonialissues of cultural identity, including displacement,hybridization, and disparities of power. In her first solo show inVancouver, Mehra will create a new sculptural work thataddresses excess and urban decay, complemented by an off-siteproject that employs skywriter technology to critique “thepoliticization of space”.TENUGUI TOWELS: DESIGN EXCELLENCE IN JAPANESE DAILY LIFEJapanese Canadian National Museum, Burnaby, Jan 15-Mar 26,2012 Who knew that cotton hand towels could be so enchanting?Tenugui, traditional Japanese towels used in both the kitchen andthe bathroom, are printed with a wide range of motifs, from dotsand zigzags to strawberries, bunnies, cherry blossoms and mapleleaves. While presenting an array of these beautifully everydayobjects, the show also surveys their use, from Shinto ritual in the8th century to their common applications today, not only astowels but as gift wrap.Gregg SimpsonRichard SumnerDivya MehraTengui Towelswww.preview-art.com PREVIEW 29