Awesome video game collaboration between the Vancouver Biennale and MOD7!

What a great way for kids, parent and educators to learn about and interact with the Vancouver Biennale sculptures and exhibits!

The good folks at MOD7 have created a super cool game based around Vancouver’s open spaces, Biennale art works and art thieves! That’s right, you get to stop the art thieves from perpetrating their dastardly crimes on our beautiful public art exhibitions!

The Vancouver Biennale is pleased to introduce” The Case of the English Bay Bandits“, a new and fun game for the family to enjoy this summer. Catch the Shadow Collector, the notorious art thief, before he escapes, and claim your reward!

Have you spotted Freezing Water #7 at Vanler Park? Did you see the laughing bronzes in English Bay? There are more of these eye-catching art installations – Take a tour to explore arts with nature the green way this summer. Look for maps and directions on our website.

For parents and educators: click here to access intriguing learning resources including an in-depth look at the Vancouver Biennale art installations. These resources include a set of lesson plan designed to encourage active, engaged, inquiry based learning through art. All lesson plans have been field tested and offer suggested activities, curriculum challenges, and the opportunity for the students to express their creativity.

Sign in and Play!

Artist Sophie Ryder affixes the missing Blue Hare. Photo by Dan Fairchild.

Please help us to locate the missing Blue Hare from the Minotaur and Hare sculpture located at Van Dusen Garden!

As I mentioned last week on this blog the sculpture in Van Dusen Garden has been vandalized by someone and the Blue Hare has been stolen.

A thief used wire clippers to separate the Blue Hare from the Minotaur and it has severely affected the work.

Any assistance that you can offer in terms of helping us locate and return the Blue Hare to the sculpture is warmly appreciated.

By talking about it with your friends, posting this link to your blog, Facebook account or by tweeting this out to your followers on twitter we can hopefully raise awareness about this theft.

The loss of this piece affects the value of the work and deprives the community of an opportunity to experience this unique piece.

Here’s a brief statement from the Vancouver Biennale office:

“The police have been contacted regarding the theft. We are grateful for the support of CBC radio (who interviewed us last week over the theft), Where Magazine, Kris Krug and others.

Nothing like this has ever happened to us before – one sculpture being targeted twice in one year. The artist currently has an exhibition in Aynhoe Park, England called ‘The Kiss’ and is extremely busy. Sophie spent a great deal of time coming out to Vancouver in May to replace the last stolen hare and gave a FREE public lecture and children’s art classes at VanDusen Botanical Garden and Arts Umbrella.

Even if people don’t always respect a sculpture or piece of art, we would hope they would respect the artist and person behind it.”

If you have any information please contact any of the following:

Vancouver Biennale: 604 682 1289

Van Dusen Garden: 604 878 9274

Vancouver Police: 604 717 3321.

Lonely Minotaur Missing Its Playmate. Photo by Kevin Buehler.

Please Help Us Return the Blue Hare to its Minotaur!

Crazy, weird, sad news… but the Blue Hare has been stolen again!

And we’re asking for your help in facilitating its safe return.

The Blue Hare is a part of a sculpture called the Minotaur and Hare created by renowned sculptor, Sophie Ryder, and installed at the entrance to the hedge maze at Van Dusen Gardens as part of the Vancouver Biennale.

Sophie Ryder with Minotaur & Hare. Photo by Dan Fairchild.

Minotaur and Hare is a twisted and wrapped anthropomorphic sculpture made of galvanized wire standing on a ceramic base might at first seem a whimsical love story; but according to ancient folklore the two are incompatible opposites.

In Greek mythology the Minotaur, often portrayed as part man and part bull, is a figure of courage and terror, while the Hare symbolizes fertility, agility, and bravery.

British sculptor, Sophie Ryder, recently flew to Vancouver to re-install a replacement hare after an earlier theft from the 10ft wire sculpture.

The work has been installed at Van Dusen Garden since 2009.

The hare is an integral part of the art work, severely impacting its value. We are seeking your support in the return of the lost blue hare.

If you have any information please contact any of the following:

Vancouver Biennale: 604 682 1289

Van Dusen Garden: 604 878 9274

Vancouver Police: 604 717 3321.

Sophie finishes the installation of the blue hare. Photo by Dan Fairchild.

Amazing Laughter details by the amazing photographer, Dan Fairchild.

Yue Minjun’s incredible figurative installation entitled Amazing laughter has inspired some great responses from photographers.

Dan Fairchild, the official photographer of the Vancouver Biennale, has taken some of the finest shots of these pieces.

Here he’s playing with light on some of the detail shots of these individual pieces.

If you like what you see here please check out Dan’s amazing Flickr stream and stay tuned for more of his excellent work showcased here in the future.

Amazing Laughter Details by the amazing photogrpaher, Dan Fairchild.

Love this shot of the two hands folded in back to back.  So elegant.  Great lighting.

More about this sculpture:

Amazing Laughter Patinated bronze Yue Minjun (China)

Yue Minjun uses his own iconic face in a state of hysterical laughter as a signature trademark. Recognized universally as a sign of happiness, the smile raises questions of intent and interpretation. One of the most influential contemporary artists in China, Yue Minjun represents the new wave of Chinese artistic freedom. Amazing Laughter marks Yue MOnjun’s Canadian debut.

In Amazing Laughter Beijing-based artist Yue Minjun depicts his own iconic laughing image, with gaping grins and closed eyes in a state of hysterical laughter.  These laughing figures are the signature trademark of the artist. They are not a conventional self-portrait, as they tell us little about the person portrayed or of the reason they are laughing so hysterically. The longer you look at these cast bronze figures, the more the contradiction of the silent, frozen form of sculpture begins to intrude.  We see, but do not hear the laughter.  The contorted poses of the figure suggest animation and a cartoon form of an anonymous person. The laughter appears to be convulsive, intense, and manic, but also insincere and forced. The scale is “un-naturally” large –exaggerated and excessive like the laughter.

Yue Minjun was a leading figure in what became to be known in the 1990’s as Cynical Realism, an artistic movement that emerged in China after the 1989 student demonstrations in Tiananmen and the suppression of artistic expression.  Humor, cynicism, repetition and an emphasis on the individual are common characteristics of this artistic movement.  Yue Minjun was one of the first artists to translate this new ironic view of contemporary life, one that is expressed in the nihilistic hilarity at a time when little was funny.

For more information visit www.yueminjun.com

Amazing Laughter Details by the amazing photogrpaher, Dan Fairchild.

Fletcher Benton's Donut #7. Photo by Dan Fairchild.

Introducing one of the most unique sculptures in the Vancouver Biennale 2009 – 2011 Exhibition.

Located at Cressey Olympic Village Park, 1st Avenue and Crowe Street very near the Biennale offices and the Olympic Village where the athletes stayed during the 2010 Games, this piece is sure to inspire and confound art lovers in equal measure.

Donut #7 COR TEN steel Fletcher Benton (USA)

The “donut” in the title is the round, open holed form, which holds and stabilizes the other geometric elements. The choice of a uniform red surface highlights the unique color, tonality and rich lustre inherent in metals.

Fletcher Benton is represented in major museum collections and is well-known for his massive precisely crafted geometric metal sculptures that combine welded circles, spheres, cylinders, cubes, and squares composed and balanced in space.

The “donut” referred to in the title is the round, open holed form, which in the case of Donut #7 holds and stabilizes the other geometric elements.

Fletcher Benton's Donut #7. Photo by Dan Fairchild.

The one long lone slender vertical line shoots upward balancing the heavy dense mass below. Donut #7 was preceded by Donut #5 and Donut with Balls #23 in 2001.

His choice of a uniform red surface for the sculpture reflects his concern with the unique color, tonality and rich lustre inherent in metals. Donut # 7’s industrial and militantly rigid form is both intimidating and commanding.

The simplicity of each clustered shape also abstractly reveals forms of nature, geometry and human activity.

For more information visit www.fletcherbenton.com

Fletcher Benton's Donut #7. Photo by Dan Fairchild.