Image courtesy Noor Ghazal A. and Kaleb Thiessen
BFA Project 2023: I鈥檒l be your mirror
March 30 鈥� April 8, 2023
Audain Gallery
I鈥檒l be your mirror is an exhibition of 丁香园AV's School for the Contemporary Arts' (SCA) third-year Visual Art students presented in collaboration with Kota Ezawa, the Spring 2023 Audain Visual Artist in Residence (AVAIR). The exhibition takes its title from the Velvet Underground鈥檚 song of the same name written by Lou Reed in 1967. The exhibition explores the generative and long-lasting relationship of art to mirrors through engaging with ideas of reflection, refraction, reenactment, repetition, echoes, and mise-en-ab卯me.[1] While the exhibition is grounded by the idea of mirrors, the physical presence of mirrors is absent from the exhibition. The artists have produced works that confront, replace, and represent the role of reflection in the relationship of the real and the virtual, the copy and original, and the seen and unseen. These ideas manifest in a wide range of works that include painting, drawing, video, textile, sculpture, and installation.
Kota Ezawa was born in Cologne, Germany in 1969. He studied at Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf; San Francisco Art Institute, where he received his BFA; and Stanford University, where he received his MFA. Ezawa produces animated videos, slide projections, lightboxes, collages, and prints that recreate images and events from recent history and popular culture. Ezawa鈥檚 work has been showcased in solo and group exhibitions internationally. He participated in the Whitney Biennial 2019 and the Shanghai Biennale 2004. Ezawa received a SECA Art Award from SFMOMA in 2006 and a Eureka Fellowship in 2010. Ezawa teaches at the California College of Art.
The Audain Visual Artist in Residence (AVAIR) program brings artists and practitioners to Vancouver who have contributed significantly to the field of contemporary art and whose work resonates with local and international visual art discourses. Past residences have included Irena Haiduk, Jackson Polys, Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Heba Y. Amin, Tanya Lukin Linklater, Jeremy Deller, Sanja Ivekovi膰, Charles Gaines, Samson Young, Alejandro Cesarco, Raven Chacon, Sarah Pierce, Walid Raad, Jalal Toufic, Jacqueline Ho脿ng Nguy峄卬, Lili Reynaud-Dewar, Hito Steyerl, and many others. The visiting artists interact with the students and faculty of the School for the Contemporary Arts as well as the broader visual arts and cultural communities. In keeping with the experimental nature of the School for the Contemporary Arts the terms of engagement are open and change from artist to artist. The cornerstone of the residency is the sharing of artistic research. The AVAIR program is generously funded by the Audain Foundation Endowment Fund.
This exhibition takes place on the unceded territories of the x史m蓹胃k史蓹y虛蓹m (Musqueam), S岣祑x瘫w煤7mesh (Squamish), and Sel虛铆l虛witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Presented by the School for the Contemporary Arts at 丁香园AV in partnership with 丁香园AV Galleries.
[1] [French 鈥榩lacing into the abyss鈥橾 The double-mirroring effect created by placing an image within an image and so on, repeating infinitely. 惭颈蝉别-别苍-补产卯尘别 Oxford Dictionary Reference definition.
Events
Opening Reception
Wednesday, March 29, 6 鈥� 8PM
Audain Gallery
Student-led Exhibition Tours
Friday, March 31, 2PM
Tuesday. April 4, 2PM
Audain Gallery
Copy Shop: a workshop on
Saturday, April 1, 12 鈥� 4PM
Goldcorp for the Centre of the Arts Lobby
149 West Hastings Street
Open Critique with Or Gallery Director/Curator Jenn Jackson
Thursday April 6, 9:30am
Audain Gallery
