Photo by Sean Cranbury.

The Vancouver Biennale is expanding its focus from the picturesque waterways of Coal Harbour and English Bay to other locations within the city.

A major theme of the Vancouver Biennale is In-Transit-Ion as we embrace the public transportation systems and the public space around them.  These are the hubs that connect our neighborhoods and communities to each other just as the Canada Line connects Vancouver to the rest of the world via the Vancouver International Airport.

The first installation along Vancouver Skytrain’s brand new Canada Line is entitled History of Loss by Indian artist Sudarshan Shetty.  You can find this piece in the parking lot behind the new Canada Line station at Cambie Street and King Edward.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

More about Sudarshan Shetty‘s ‘History of Loss’.

Plexiglass, aluminum, steel, Sudarshan Shetty, India.

Although inspired by VW Beetle childhood toy cars, the reference here is multitudinous; iconic combustion engine vehicles entombed and dated as artifacts, reflecting the consciousness and worldliness of young Contemporary Indian artists.  Shetty makes his Canadian debut in the 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale.

The casts of model aluminum Volkswagen Beetle cars are displayed in clear plexiglass boxes stacked in repeated rows, each marked with a date.  The replicas are miniature, mimicking children’s toy cars, a reference to a childlike desire, and nostalgic memory.   Shetty diligently cast each individual car, identical, perfect and pristine, and then deliberately dropped them one by one from around 300 feet with the sole purpose to damage each one, thereby making each one individualistic.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Shetty describes his process: “The cars were manually smashed by me after being cast from a single mould, thereby representing the notion of their possible crash as an event. The dates on the vestibules represent the dates of possible crashes, but they really represent the dates to the deadline that I had in which to complete the work, which was completed in 42 days.” Shetty’s piece draws attention to the environment damage caused by the combustion engine by placing each vehicle into a coffin-like box, on display as a museum relic or artifact.

Sudarshan Shetty is part of a growing number of young contemporary Indian artists who are garnering international attention for work that breaks with traditional religious iconography, or uses it in new ways.  Shetty makes his Canadian debut in the 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale.

For more information visit www.galleryske.com

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

I took a sculpture walk along the seawall yesterday with my friend Stefanie, who’s from Saskatoon by way of Shanghai, China by way of London, UK.

We started at the new Vancouver Convention Centre and walked west from the Pillows of Harbour Green past the Meeting in Cardero Park to the celebration that is Yue Minjun’s A-Mazing Laughter in Morton Triangle at the edge of English Bay.

It was a great walk on a beautiful day.  Here’s some photos of Yue Minjun’s A-Mazing Laughter.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Photo by Sean Cranbury.

Summer is raging full on toward September and Vancouver is in its glory.  Sunshine is leaping in sheets of silver across English Bay, the mountains are a haze on the north shore and the sky is suffused with light.  Trees are practically glowing green and everywhere you look tourists are snapping photos.

Two new sculpture installations have dropped into parks in Vancouver and both are by Chinese artists.

The photo above is taken in Cardero Park along Vancouver’s Coal Harbour waterfront.

It’s a new sculpture by Wang Shugang called “The Meeting”.

The installation consists of 8 red figures squatting and facing one another in a circle.  The figures are crafted in some kind of fibreglass and each one is a subtle variation on the next.

The initial stage of the installation was completed yesterday and the concrete was still setting when I took these pictures.  You can see the yellow caution tape tied to the trees around the sculpture in many of the photos.

You can also see chunks of grass lying around the sculptures.  These circles of grass were removed so that the concrete bases could be set to hold the red figures for their stay in Vancouver.

While I was snapping my photos many tourists and locals stopped to take some shots.  I’m looking forward to getting some more great shots of The Meeting later this week after the yellow tape comes down and people start to interact with it.

Most people stayed on the boardwalk beyond the yellow tape, though one guy was urgent on by his girlfriend to get a few close-ups.

One lady, with a small but enthusiastic dog on a leash, openly hoped that the figures were ‘pee proof’

Speaking of ‘pee-proof’, a low-slung work by Chinese artist Liu Jianhua was installed on the lawns of Harbour Green just to the west of Vancouver’s new Convention Centre.

The work is called “The Pillows” and I think that it’s going to be one of the most popular and intriguing pieces in the Biennale.

As you can see the installation wasn’t finished when I dropped by to take some photos.  The workers were still digging holes and mixing concrete and lugging materials around in their wheel barrow.

When the installation is finished and the concrete has set, park-goers will have the opportunity to engage this installation of several white ceramic pillows seemingly placed at random.

They appear to float just above the grass and one wonders who has been using them to cradle their head during sleep.

Or are they cushions for sitting, for silent contemplation of the incoming float planes or maybe they’re perfect for hanging out while goofing with your friends.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how people interact with the Pillows.

More photos coming soon after the concrete dries.

- Meanwhile there’s more shots of these new installations below -

Read more…

It’s finally upon us!  Giant container ships are approaching the city from distant ports carrying sculptures of great artists from all over the world that will soon adorn the public spaces, parks, beaches and transit vehicles of Vancouver.

It’s an exciting time.

The first two installations will happen on Thursday July 30th and Friday July 31st and I will be there to take pictures and hopefully get an early sampling of public reaction to these works of art.

The San Francisco based Chinese/American artist Michael Zheng will be the first to have his work installed in Vancouver. Zheng creates situations through his playful installation work that challenges established positions, allowing new perspectives to become visible. His work often involves conventional or everyday objects placed in the environment in unexpected ways.

Zheng has exhibited his work internationally, in prestigious institutions such as The Instituteo Valenciano de Arte Moderno, Valencia (2008); Vierwände Kunst (4 Walls Art Festival), Düsseldorf, (2007); GenArt, San Francisco, (2006); Portland Museum of Art Biennial, Portland, Maine (2005); ‘9th Baltic Triennial of International Art‘, London (2005). He makes his Canadian debut with two conceptual based installations titled Stop in the 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale.

On Friday, revered sculptor, photographer and social activist, Vladas Vildžiūnas will have his work, Barbora, installed in the city.  He has created some of the most influential and important monumental works in Lithuania to date.   Titled Honored Artist of Lithuania in 1982, his work has since been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London and many major cities around Europe.  The 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale will be his first foray in Canada.

Stay tuned for times and locations in the next few days.