Looking West: Vancouver

Equinox Gallery: Fred Herzog
Emily Carr at the Vancouver Art Gallery

On Wednesday evening, I attended Equinox Gallery’s private preview dinner for Fred Herzog: A Colour Legacy, celebrating the release of 69 posthumous photographs and the eponymous publication.

It was a beautiful event, marked by insightful remarks by Andy Sylvester and Helga Pakasaar. The installation is masterful, and the work once again reminds us how remarkable and important an artist Fred Herzog was.

Thank you to everyone at Equinox Gallery for their continued stewardship of Fred Herzog’s legacy. It is always a pleasure to work with the team at Equinox.

Beginning Saturday, May 30th, in the Viewing Room, TrépanierBaer will feature works by Fred Herzog, including Orange Cabs, Green Balloon, Two Men in Fog, and Closed for Renovations.

****

While in Vancouver, I took the opportunity to visit the Vancouver Art Gallery, where I ran into my old friend Matthew Teitelbaum, former CEO of the Art Gallery of Ontario and, more recently, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Pleasantly surprised to see one another, we quickly found ourselves asking the same question: “What do you think?”

Matthew remarked, “It feels like the VAG is back,” to which I replied, “Agreed.” We both felt the Emily Carr exhibition is one of the finest presentations of her work we have seen in some time. It is a well-curated survey from early to late works, with much of the exhibition drawn from the gallery’s own collection. If you happen to be in Vancouver, this is an exhibition not to be missed.

In fact, the entire suite of exhibitions—from That Green Ideal: Emily Carr and the Idea of Nature to Future Geographies, Highlights from the Collection, Stephen Shore: Uncommon Places, and Jim Lambie’s visually distorting and playful installation Zobop (Colour Chrome)—come together to create a thoughtful, cohesive, and rewarding gallery experience.

Congratulations to Eva Respini and Sirish Rao, the Vancouver Art Gallery’s current Interim Co-CEOs, on a job well done. I look forward to seeing more ambitious and timely exhibitions as the gallery moves toward its next chapter and the realization of its new home.

****