Recently and finally I have seen in person one of the most popular sculptural installations in Vancouver, situated near English Bay for the Vancouver Biennale of 2009-2011. A-maze-ing Laughter, made by Yue Minjun of China, is a group of 14 giant painted bronze figures, all laughing merrily. Eventually it was purchased and gifted to the city by a prominent businessman.

My photos do not do the stunning work justice. Here is a the best I have seen of the entire group, and here is a review. After so many years of seeing and reading about it, I’m so happy to have at long last visited it and noted the happy the crowds around it. In a way, it reminds me of another more recent Biennale installation I saw and wrote about last year.

British Columbia’s own beloved artist Emily Carr (1871-1945) is well known in Canada but not so much in England. Now a large body of her work is on exhibition there for the first time, at the Dulwich Picture Gallery in London.

Our Vancouver Art Gallery has a large collection of her work, some of which is in the London exhibition along with collections from other Canadian institutions. They have a website on Emily with link to a timeline and images of her work:

Emily Carr, born in Victoria, British Columbia, is one of Canada’s most renowned artists, significant as a landscape painter and a modernist. The most important BC artist of her generation, she is best known for her attention to the totemic carvings of the First Nations people of British Columbia and the rain forests of Vancouver Island.

I have been very fortunate in seeing so much of her work here and in Victoria. The Vancouver Art Gallery always has some of her work on display for the pleasure of revisits, sometimes along with a contemporary artist with the aim of provoking discussion about differences and similarities in approach or spirit. I love most her late period works of our magestic trees painted in a free expressionist fashion.

A Guardian review of the Dulwich exhibit calls Emily Carr Canada’s very own Van Gogh. Some images to be enjoyed here as well.

This 2006 review in the Vancouver Sun might also be of interest.

I am now recalling a superb exhibition in 2002 called Carr, O’Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Own accompanied by a wonderful book by Sharyn Rohlfsen Udall which I recommend highly, if it is still available and you are interested.

Above image: Emily Carr: Corner of Kitwancool Village, c. 1930 – Oil on Canvas
© McMichael Canadian Art Collection, scanned from a card

Later: just found this in today’s Vancouver Sun newspaper

The second installation of sculptures installed by the Vancouver Biennale in the City of North Vancouver (in addition to Wang Shugang’s sculptures) are the Walking Figures, a group of headless cast iron figures by one of my favourite artists, Magdalena Abakanowicz. These are installed individually on the sidewalk over several blocks of Lonsdale Avenue.

I still remember well Abakanowicz’ similar stunning figures called Vancouver Ancestors, set together as a powerful group on a grassy slope in Queen Elizabeth Park in 2006, also part of that year’s Vancouver Biennale.

Though I did not have the time to visit all the Walking Figures, I was excited to see several of these. Yet I did not feel these had the power of the Ancestors because they stood alone and apart next to a very busy street. I can understand the reasoning for this kind of installation – to expose art to people in their daily movements on the street, so much more prevalent in many European cities. In my short time there as I took photographs, I also observed the human traffic and it seemed not one person paused to look at them, though maybe some had already viewed them earlier if they regularly passed by them.

There are a couple of interesting links (as pdfs) at the Biennale site if you desire more information:
about the installation
about the artist

As part of the Vancouver Biennale for 2014 – 2016, some installations of sculpture are on display in North Vancouver City. Yesterday evening we happened to be in the neighbourhood of Ray Sargent Park on Lonsdale Avenue, right by the Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art (seen in the background of the second image). I was excited to view the works of two internationally noted artists’ works.

The first group of figures, made of painted bronze, is by Wang Shugang of China.

It is not without irony that the red figures are placed in a circle, static and crouching with cupped hands, open to various interpretations, from one of thoughtful contemplation to one of latent energy ready to leap up. Wang Shugang’s installation for the Vancouver Biennale, Meeting, is painted a shade of red that is known as Chinese Red, the colour associated with the Chinese government and communism.

According to the artist, “… the colour red has multiple cultural meanings in China, historically representing happiness but during the Cultural Revolution it symbolized terror. Today red is the colour of the faded lettering praising Mao on the ceilings of the factories, coats of the Buddhist monks and the colour of wedding decorations”.

Besides noticing the sense of contemplation mentioned, I felt that there is some humour here as well! Children do love them. I’m only sorry that the light was not ideal for photography at this time of the evening so please visit the link for better photos and also more information about the artist.

(I will show photos of the other artist’s work in the next post.)

On our recent drive up to Whistler, a visit to the beautiful Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Center in town was a must for us, after last year’s inspirational visit. We spent most of the time upstairs where the temporary exhibits are displayed, and a new one had just been installed. Below is the first piece we loved. I’ll feature the other favourite in another post.

Called Box of Promises this stunning piece slowly rotates revealing the play of the patterns in varying relationships.

looking inside

looking underneath

A fascinating collaboration by two artists from two different cultures and with a very thought-provoking title.