An Artful Visit at the AGO

Jungen's Couch Monster outside the AGO

This morning I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) just as it opened at 10.30am and there was a line-up just to get in! Lots of eager art lovers keen to check it out. Admission for the day is C$30, but an annual pass is $40...

The museum is 480,000 sq ft, making it one of the largest art museums in North America, and the second-largest after the Royal Ontario Museum.

Oil sketches by the Group of Seven artists

It seems the AGO has no problems filling the space, as donors like Ken Thomson, who was one of Canada's richest men, donated many pieces of art, and in one room we got a small sampler of his taste in art (eclectic, fun, unique).

The museum also has quite the extensive collection of Group of Seven paintings. Not only finished paintings were presented, but alongside were many oil sketches, probably done in situ. These small works give viewers an idea of how the artist made the composition slightly or drastically differently, and that their impressionist style was already in these oil sketches. The colours seem to be quite similar.

There are a few paintings by Emily Carr that are scattered throughout the AGO too, but obviously not as big a collection as the Vancouver Art Gallery.

Riopelle's colourful, textural work

It was annoying though that captions were not placed with each work -- there was a large brochure in each gallery for visitors to use as a reference. Perhaps individually captioning them was seen as too busy, but the VAG does place it on the side so people can easily find the captions.

There was also a fantastic large square canvas by Jean-Paul Riopelle called Chevreuse II, where oil paint was scraped around the canvas to create new shades as well as textures. It looked extremely complicated but also chaotic and dynamism. Quite amazing that forgers think it's not hard to copy his style.

For something very different, there was a small contemporary exhibition of South Asian artist Ranbir Sidhu's three sculptures in a show called No Limits. He uses polished stainless steel as his medium to create his vision, hence "no limits". One called Fortress of Memory are 21 intricate cutout sculptures of an image of the Dastar Bunga, a style of turban whose name translates as "towering fortress" in Persian and Punjabi. 

Sidhu's Fortress of Memory

Another one looks like a futuristic, spiky-looking asteroid with blinking LED lights inside of it called Asteroid 3033 XI. 

Something in the AGO's permanent exhibition is Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama's Infinity Mirrored Room -- Let's Survive Forever. We had to wait for an attendant to let us in (maximum of four people), and before we went into the room we had to leave our bags outside. We were told we only had one minute to look around.

Inside the mirrored room were many silver balls, and after taking a video of the small room, time was almost up. The attendant asked, "Did you look in the column in the middle?" She had told us to be careful of the column when we went inside.

No we hadn't! We took a quick look to see ourselves mirrored inside more silver balls inside the mirrored column! It did indeed go on, forever.

Immersed in Kusama's mirrors

As we waited to go in, there was a video interview of Kusama and she talked about how she fought with her parents about her desire to become an artist. Her older sister had married well, into a family that was successful in business and why couldn't Kusama do the same?

She rebelled and refused to do any such thing and became even more obsessed with painting...

Outside the AGO is a curious sculpture by Aboriginal artist Brian Jungen. I love his work because he takes everyday objects and turns them into frighteningly beautiful things, like dinosaur-like creatures out of white plastic lawn chairs, or Nike basketball shoes into Aboriginal-like masks.

The AGO bronze piece is called Couch Monster, where he was inspired by Jumbo, a captive circus elephant who was killed by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario in 1885. Jungen called the work "couch monster" because capturing and training an elephant for the circus involves breaking the animal's will and spirit. 

As a result it is no longer an elephant, but a monster created by humans for their own entertainment. So Jungen's prototype involved reconfiguring couches to create the animal, balancing on a ball.

It's an arresting image, but also so thought-provoking.

Artist Emily Carr's Art in Nature

Only a few of Carr's paintings focus more on the sky than trees

Artist Emily Carr (1871-1945) lived an unconventional life, challenging norms and traditions at the time, and became an artist in her own right. She is best known for her paintings deep in the forest, trees in simplified shapes, but the brushstrokes have a lot of movement and energy.

The Vancouver Art Gallery is showing an extensive assemblage of her work in That Green Ideal: Emily Carr and the Ideal of Nature until November 8 this year.

Wood Interior, 1909

The exhibition shows over 100 works from sketches and charcoal drawings to numerous oil paintings focused on her love of nature and keen interest in Indigenous culture.

There is also a lot of background information about Carr's life. She was born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1871 into a privileged family. Carr was the second-youngest of nine children, her father intent on carrying on English traditions. 

It's surprising to see the exhibition reveal some personal details about Carr, such as when she was around 12 years old her father decided to talk to her about the birds and the bees that completely turned her off from sex... one wonders what he said to her which caused the conversation to have such a profound effect on her for the rest of her life.

Her childhood and life drastically changed when her mother died when Carr was 14 years old in 1886; she believes her father was heartbroken and died two years later. As a result Carr's oldest sister Edith was her guardian.

From a young age Carr showed artistic leanings and her father encouraged her to develop her talent. But it wasn't until two years later in 1890 that she studied art at the California School of Design in San Francisco for three years, then returned to Vancouver Island and then went to England to study painting; she also went to Paris later in her career.

Tree Trunk, 1931

Meeting Lawren Harris of the Group of Seven in 1930 made Carr feel like she was part of a community of painters who had similar philosophies, inspired by nature.

"Find the forms you desire to express your purpose," she wrote in her journal in June 1931. "When you have succeeded in getting them as near as you can to express your idea, never leave them but push further on and on strengthening and emphasising those forms to enclose that green idea or ideal."

Most of the paintings are vertical, showing the height of the trees she painted, admiring their trunks and leaves -- she used a lot of green paint! One painting called Wood Interior, 1909 shows trees at ground level, but with the morning light shining in between the tree trunks. 

Another called Tree Trunk, 1931, focuses on the simplified form of the tree trunk, which looks similar to a Georgia O'Keefe painting in its sensuous curves and earthy palette. 

Only a few works are horizontal, or only show sparse trees, or from a distance and instead focusing on the sky with clouds.

It's such an extensive exhibition, that it is quite an intense Carr retrospective! 

That Green Ideal: Emily Carr and the Ideal of Nature

On until November 8, 2026

Vancouver Art Gallery

Art Gallery Gone Wild

Lambie has covered the entire rotunda is a riot of colours

This afternoon I went to the Vancouver Art Gallery to check out its latest exhibitions. There's a comprehensive examination of Emily Carr, her life and work on the ground floor that I'll talk about in another post, and in the rotunda is a wild almost psychedelic art installation!

The rotunda area is usually neutral, grey to complement the marble, but the curved staircase and foyer are covered in a riot of lines and colours.

It's called Zobop (Colour-Chrome) by Scottish artist Jim Lambie, who is also a DJ and musician.

Zobop is his floor-based installations he has done since the 1990s that mesmerise and attracts visitors to interact with the space.

Lambie uses inexpensive, ready-made materials for this work, and here he uses industrial vinyl tape to contour the space, so each one is site specific.

The concentric patterns amplify the geometry of the space, resulting in a playful yet disorienting effect.

Placing this work in this particular area of the gallery is ideal, because as visitors go up or down each floor they get a different perspective on the space and colours.

And of course people can't help but take selfies here!

Vancouver Sun Run was Sunny and Fun

Fantastic to run on the Burrard Street Bridge

Today we had really good conditions for the Vancouver Sun Run -- 11 degrees Celsius and blue skies, and the temperature rose as high as 15 degrees.

For the past month or so I trained on the treadmill, running 5K and then 7K and 10K three times. The treadmill wouldn't allow me to run more than 60 mins at a time, so I had to run 60K then stop and start again and run another 3K.

A relaxed, fun atmosphere on Georgia Street

In any event I felt pretty confident I would finish in about 80 minutes, considering the last time I ran 10K was at the Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon in 2019.

Near the Vancouver Art Gallery on Georgia Street there was a sea of purple -- over 57,000 runners most of them wearing the issued purple T-shirts and meeting up with friends or heading to the starting line.

The runners were allowed to go in waves according to their coloured bibs, but unless you were an elite runner no one was really checking. If it was Hong Kong, they would definitely make sure participants were in the correct heat.

So we ended up with the group that planned to run the 10K race in an hour and five minutes! I started off fine down Georgia Street, as it was downhill, and then we turned left onto Beach Avenue and it was already 2K and there was the first water station. There would be three more along the route.

It was also helpful to have music blaring, either live or pre-programmed pop music to keep us motivated, and residents, or employees of companies like Lululemon came out to cheer the runners with lots of signs, ringing cow bells or clapping.

A handful of people dressed up -- one ran in a T-Rex costume, while my cousin wore a hotdog outfit, and his friends were bottles of ketchup and mustard, a pickle and Heineken beer.

A sea of people in purple T-shirts at the start

I walked a few times on the uphill sections, a bit winded, but motivated to keep going. At 55 minutes I saw I already ran 8.24K and that was a big motivator to keep going to the finish. 

However, the end did not seem within sight! We ran along Quebec Street and passed Science World (I thought the finish was near or just past it), but no, we had to keep running and veer to the left towards BC Place, where I finally saw the finish line in sight.

Many people were walking at this point but I powered to the finish at 1:10:43, 10 minutes faster than I had expected!!!

Vancouver Art Gallery's Financial Woes on Show

Strangled by Growth, by Emily Carr, 1931

Last week I brought my relative visiting from the United States to the Vancouver Art Gallery, and it was eerily quiet.

The lobby was hardly bustling with visitors so there was no line to buy admission tickets. Inside there were probably 20 people looking at art in the entire art museum.

Interestingly there is a rate for British Columbia residents at $29 compared to $35 for everyone else. Children up to 18 years old are free! The VAG may want to rethink allowing teenagers to be free with the severe belt tightening that's going on.

Sans titre, by Riopelle, 1950

In early July there were news reports that the art gallery cut about 30 percent of its total 129 staff. In June, 16 people took voluntary leave benefits, while another 18 were laid off since.

"We're really looking across the institution, trying to leave no stone unturned, and we really tried to save as many roles, as many jobs as possible," explained Eva Respini, the VAG's interim co-CEO.

"This is an incredibly difficult moment," she said. "It's quite literally every department in the museum that has been affected in one way or another."

We could see that. It seemed that some staff took turns acting as security guards, while the ones in uniform didn't seem to know much about the gallery. We asked one a question about an art work and they politely apologised and said they didn't know, but didn't offer to help us find the answer either.

Another way the VAG will cut costs is the number of exhibitions it holds each year, from 12 down to eight, while more shows will feature the gallery's permanent collection. Which means more Emily Carr...

Untitled (Toothpicks), Tara Donovan

The gallery is planning to exhibit more of the BC artist's work from its collection as it has some 250 pieces of Carr's. 

The drastic cuts are due to attendance at the gallery never returned to pre-pandemic levels. 

It's quite sad seeing the VAG so empty and has affected morale in the place. 

The exhibitions we saw were of Emily Carr, Riopelle, and pieces from the collection of a couple who are VAG patrons. One work featured a cube made entirely of toothpicks...

Municipal, provincial and federal governments are all focused on the World Cup next year, making it very difficult for arts and culture institutions to get more money to keep going. 

It seems so tone deaf for the VAG to continue planning for a new gallery space, but apparently it still has funds from various levels of government and donors. A new architect will be announced in the fall.

Indigenous Art Statement

2000, a totem pole made of golf bags

Yesterday we visited the Vancouver Art Gallery, and one of the exhibitions on now is called Postcards from the Heart: Selections from the Brigitte and Henning Freybe Collection. The Freybes are art collectors who began this expensive hobby in the 1970s, and continue to today.

It's an eclectic mix of artists, the ones shown were mostly Canadian.

Skeleton of a whale made from plastic chairs

One piece was by Brian Jungen called 2000 that he completed in 2007.

At first glance it looks like a totem pole, but upon inspecting it closer, the work is made of golf bags.

Several years ago his work was exhibited at the VAG, where he took everyday objects and turned them into art, from plastic lawn chairs into what looked like the bones of a whale, and taking Nike shoes and making them into striking Indigenous masks.

BC artist Jungen is known for transforming mass-produced commercial goods into sculptures and installations. 

Indigenous mask made from Nike shoes

In 2007 when this piece 2000 was made, Jungen was interested in land-use in Vancouver, particularly where some local Indigenous nations leased their land to golf courses. 

For him, this recalled the Oka Crisis of 1990, where there was a land dispute prompted by the expansion of a golf course on Mohawk territory in Quebec. 

His works are bold, making a strong political statement and at the same time executed flawlessly. Jungen has thought out what he wants to say in his work and makes them into exciting and fantastic art pieces which in a way is ironic in itself.

Vancouver Art Gallery Plans Scrapped, Back to Drawing Board

The Herzog & de Meuron design for the VAG

Will Vancouver ever get a new art gallery?

The latest plot twist? The Herzog & de Meuron-designed flashy building has been scrapped because the city can't afford the C$600 million bill.

Now gallery officials are going to start from scratch, after having started construction in March, but was suspended in August because of the 50 percent increase in construction costs.

Construction was suspended in August

Chair of the gallery board of trustees Jon Stovell confirmed the gallery had suspended its contract with the architects and is now "looking forward to a new approach."

He adds the "new approach" will be more realistic and practical.

Developer Michael Audain, who kicked in C$100 million to build the gallery was not surprised by this latest turn of events, though disappointed by how slow the progress has been, since Herzog & de Meuron released their plan for the gallery back in 2015 and only last September broke ground.

"I'm kind of delighted that they're going to a new architect, but I'll be delighted only if it's a Canadian architect. We have over 40 million people in this country, and surely we can find someone to design us an art museum," Audain said. "This is a position I've been taking for over 10 years... From Day 1, I thought it should be a Canadian architect."

Stovell says the new plan will be practical

Meanwhile Bob Rennie, a prominent art collector and local businessman has been critical of the art gallery's plans for years, saying it is a waste of taxpayer money and philanthropy, and that "starchitecture" focused more on the building than the art inside.

"It's disappointing to see anything in my city fail. I think it looks very bad for the city, but since 2012, there's never been a concrete plan. It's always been imaginary," Rennie said.

He says it's time for the gallery to look at all options to come up with a more practical plan.

In the meantime which Canadian architect wants to revamp the Vancouver Art Gallery on a tight budget?

June 12 Rally Marred by Indigenous Protest

Hong Kong protesters showed up with flags and in black

In Hong Kong it's already June 12, the fourth anniversary of the peaceful protests against the extradition bill that successfully stalled the second reading of the bill at the Legislative Council, but the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at the 40,000 people.

The police described the incident as a riot, which led to the protesters to chant, "Five demands, not one less". They were: Demand the police retract the "riot" characterisation; withdrawal of the extradition bill; release and exonerate arrested protesters; hold a public inquiry into police brutality; and implement universal suffrage.

Four years on the Hong Kong diaspora continue to call for these demands to be met, on Sunday afternoon in Vancouver at an event organised by the Vancouver Activists of Hong Kong.

"Glory to Hong Kong" written in chalk

A crowd of about 50-60 people gathered at the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery, many wearing black, masks, hats and sunglasses. Several people waved flags of colonial Hong Kong, of East Turkestan, and the protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times".

The 2pm event began several minutes late due to technical problems, but finally got off the ground, with the singing of the Canadian anthem and a minute of silence for the victims of the 2019 protests. The protest anthem "Glory to Hong Kong" -- a song the authorities are trying to ban -- was played, while many in the crowd shouted slogans.

Then a few people made speeches, such as a member of parliament, a long time activist who organises events around June 4, and some protesters, one of whom became very emotional, pleading for passersby to pay attention to what the Hongkongers' grievances were about.

An artistic statement

However, the area is a public space where people are free to walk through, and when parts of the event are in Cantonese, there is even less interest. Many walking by carried shopping bags, as the art gallery is near a shopping street, others walked their dogs.

Just as the emcee was about to introduce radio host Edmund Wan, known as Giggs, who has now made his home in Vancouver, a First Nations woman who stood near the front began shouting that this land was theirs and how dare we, the attendees take it away from them.

She insisted on disrupting the event, and Wan tried to tell her that he had met some indigenous people recently and respected them, but the woman refused to listen. She was with two other First Nations woman, one of whom also began shouting, the other more interested in munching on her bag of chips.

A friend remarked perhaps this was the "infiltration" the protesters were worried about...

After a few minutes the emcee said she was angry that their items were taken away. Perhaps she was referring to the impromptu display of 215 pairs of shoes on the steps of the art gallery to represent the graves of 215 children that were discovered at a residential school in northern British Columbia. Toys were later added to the makeshift memorial.

It stood there from May 2021 until last month, when the city said it would remove the items, but then most of them disappeared before the city's cleaning crew arrived. No one knows where they are.

Woman in green disrupted the rally, pal eats chips

Why the woman was disrupting the Hong Kong protest was annoying since this clean-up happened almost a month ago and her complaints should be directed at City Hall.

Later the emcee explained in Cantonese again that she had had too much to drink, and that everyone should move away from her and ignore her. But she caught wind of what was going on and began shouting again.

Apparently the police were called, but no one came right away.

It was disappointing to see the event -- a peaceful one at that! -- being hijacked. The woman disrupting the rally distracted the attendees and the significance of the gathering.

Another is scheduled tomorrow evening (June 12 Vancouver time) at Metrotown Skytrain Station in Burnaby. It is possible there will be a greater turnout there...

Canadian Women Artists You Didn't Know

Newton's portrait of painter Louis Muhlstock

I'd been meaning to go to the Vancouver Art Gallery to check out its exhibition, Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment for months, but yesterday when I realised it would be closing in a few days, I made the effort to go this afternoon!

Portrait of FH Varley

When it comes to Canadian art, who comes to mind? The Group of Seven (Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, AY Jackson, Frank Johnston, Arthur Lismer, JEH MacDonald, and Frederick Varley. Other artists who joined later were AJ Casson, Edwin Holgate, and Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald.

So a bunch of men, and one woman -- Emily Carr.

But it turns out there were a lot of women artists in the same time period, from the 1920s to 1930s and this exhibition shines a spotlight on them. Not only did they paint, but also sculpt and photograph.

A few of them were the wives of artists in the Group of Seven, like Bess Larkin Housser Harris, the wife of Lawren Harris. The couple liked going to remote places in nature to paint, though her favourite painting is called Old Mine Shaft, Cobalt, and the mountain scene was the work she kept with her until she died.

There's a powerful abstract painting by Vera Weatherbie called Portrait of FH Varley. He is painted with a long coat, his arms folded with a cigarette in his left hand and he looks off into the distance. There is a silhouette behind him, that reminds me of a butterfly. 

His face is not painted clearly, but his facial expression is quite intense with a slight furrowed brow, the palette of greens, yellows and a tinge of orangey-pink. 

Housser Harris' favourite painting

It turns out Weatherbie was Varley's muse, as he painted her portrait several times. He later recounted that she was the "single greatest influence" on his art and life. The admiration was mutual.

The composition of this portrait was interesting -- looking down at the subject, who rests his arms on the back of the chair and looks beyond the canvas elsewhere. It's a painting of artist Louis Muhlstock, who painted street life in Montreal and the plight of the working class during the Great Depression. He has an angular face, broad shoulders, and looking sharp in his jacket, shirt and tie.

Weatherbie also painted the lives of immigrant workers and one of her paintings is called My-E-En. It depicts an Asian man working in a cannery, wearing a broad hat, and white clothing as he holds up a platter of three fish. It's interesting to see Asian people -- it's not clear if he is Chinese or Japanese, but he seems to be portrayed as being happy with this work...

Sea and Shore in marble by Wyle

Meanwhile Florence Wyle's sculptures are mesmerising in that they convey so much emotion without too much detail. One work is called Sea and Shore, featuring a woman's body from the neck down, the partial arms revealing a draping, while the breasts are revealed, and the rest of the body covered in a fabric that drapes down to suggest the legs below.

Carved out of marble, it is strong but also delicate, and sensual, revealing the flowing lines of the female form.

And of course how can this exhibition not include Emily Carr? Several of her paintings are featured towards the end of the show. One is called Stumps and Sky, and one may remember a few months back when a pair of climate change activists came to the Vancouver Art Gallery and chose this painting to throw maple syrup on it (though it was covered in glass) and then glue themselves to the wall below...

At least the stunt brought more attention to the art gallery and the exhibition?

So pleased to learn more about Canadian female artists, who to me painted just as well as the men. In some cases they had a similar masculine feel, others a more feminine touch. Hopefully the gallery and others will make more of an effort to showcase women artists. I'm glad I didn't miss this show!

Uninvited: Canadian Women Artists in the Modern Moment

Until January 8, 2023

Vancouver Art Gallery

Uninspiring Climate Change Protest

Two activists threw maple syrup on painting, then glued to wall

Young climate activists seem to think they are getting attention for their cause by doing something outrageous, like throwing food at art, but now that it's been done several times, it's losing its shock value.

And now the publicity stunt has crossed from Europe to Canada, specifically Vancouver.

This afternoon two young activists went to the Vancouver Art Gallery and threw maple syrup (gee, how Canadian) on Emily Carr's 1934 painting, Stumps and Sky. Then like their predecessors, the activists glued their hands to the wall.

Vancouver Art Gallery condemned the vandalism

One of their accomplices took a picture of them as proof they did it.

The activists from the group Stop Fracking Around had a list of demands that included ending the Coastal GasLink pipeline and Trans Mountain pipeline.

"I think any amount of publicity we can get as an organisation is worth it because the climate crisis is the most pressing crisis of our time," said Emily Kelsall, one of the activists who threw the maple syrup on the painting.

"The government instead of acting responsibly, is building fossil fuel infrastructure, they're doing the exact opposite of what science and ethics is saying we need to be doing. So anything we can do in our power, even if it's something like throwing maple syrup at a painting, if that gets attention, then yes, it's worth it."

The VAG called the police who investigated the vandalism but did not arrest the pair of activists. 

Carr's painting was protected behind glass so it was not damaged; nevertheless the VAG was not pleased.

Carr's 1934 painting, Stumps and Sky

"The Vancouver Art Gallery condemns acts of vandalism towards the works of cultural significance in our care, or in any museum. A central part of our mission is to make safer spaces for communication and ideas," said Anthony Kiendl, director and CEO of the VAG. 

"As a non-profit charity, we are an institution of memory and care for future generations. We do support the free expression of ideas, but not at the expense of suppressing the ideas and artistic expression of others, or otherwise inhibiting people from access to those ideas," 

Well, the deed is done and the gallery is lucky they did not target a painting that was not protected.

But why are they choosing to target art galleries? How are they related to the climate change crisis? 

And the stunt was shocking the first time, but now that it's been done a few times it's become annoying.

Time for these young activists to regroup and rethink another target. Cultural institutions have had enough and they should not be at the receiving end of these stunts. 

Hong Kong's 2019 Protest Movement Remembered

Police fired teargas on peaceful protesters three years ago

Scenes of police beating protesters and tear gas shot in the air were played out this afternoon on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery to mark the third anniversary of June 12, 2019. 

The chaotic scenes were re-enacted in Vancouver

That day protesters descended on the Legislative Council to try to defeat the second reading of the extradition bill, and succeeded, but not without violent clashes with the police.

Hong Kong activists here re-enacted the scenes again to a crowd of several hundred people to not only remember what happened, but also educate others who were not aware of what happened three years ago and how this led to the police using increasingly aggressive and harsh treatments of protesters in the coming months.

At one point the participants held up white pieces of paper, reminiscent of the time when protesters were arrested for doing this, unable to freely express themselves.

One man named Tab, who is also an organiser with Vancouver Activists of Hong Kong, said June 12, 2019 was a significant moment in the city.

Hong Kong activists held signs in Washington DC

"To me it's the beginning of the end of Hong Kong, in terms of keeping [China's] 'one country, two systems promise. 

"And it went downhill from there... Hong Kong has lost its freedom -- freedom of the press, judicial independence, all gone."

There was also another massive gathering in London, some 4,000 people came out to mark the third anniversary, where speakers read out the number of people arrested (over 10,700), over 2,000 prosecuted, over 1,100 in jail, 175 people arrested for national security law, eight imprisoned. They also point out there are many others who have disappeared or committed suicide with regards to the movement.

And in Taiwan around 1,000 people took part in a march, while about 400 people gathered in Washington DC. They held placards that read: "China can arrest you for... writing children's books... running a primary election... wearing a mask," and so on.

Some 4,000 people attended a rally in London

With the Hong Kong diaspora around the world, the residents' protest movement three years ago is not forgotten.