On Tuesday, January 19, three new art exhibitions will open at Burrard Arts Foundation (BAF), a local visual arts nonprofit and gallery.
Two of the shows were produced by the latest participants in BAF’s Residency Program, muralist, textile artist and illustrator Sandeep Johal, and photographer, installation and new media artist Annie Briard. During the program, the two artists worked side-by-side in the two studios at BAF’s purpose-designed facility in the False Creek Flats. Also opening is new work from Josephine Lee in BAF's Garage; this street facing exhibition window displays art to the public 24 hours a day and showcases early-career artists.
The show opens on Tuesday, January 19 and closes on Saturday, March 20. The show is free to the public during BAF Gallery’s opening hours of Tuesday to Saturday, noon to five.
Due to the current public health orders around COVID-19, no opening reception will be held. Instead, the public is invited to visit the gallery alone or with their bubble anytime during opening hours.
Annie Briard’s work can be succinctly defined by two interrelated principles: colour and light. Her new exhibition'Within the Eclipse,'created in the BAF residency program, is almost minimal, in sharp contrast to the colourful maximalism of her prior, photographic work. Included in the show is a new, light-based sculptural installation that immerses the viewer in Briard's central themes of perception and subjectivity.
The throughline of Briard’s work is how perception differs between individuals, each bringing their own biases and context to what they experience. For Briard, human experience is delicate and fluid - in a sense, its own form of artistic expression.
In the context of a contemporary milieu which demands maternal perfection while exploiting maternal anxiety, few wish to acknowledge the darkness that is so often motherhood’s closest, most constant companion.
It is within this shadowy realm that Sandeep Johal’s new exhibition, 'Beast of Burden,' brings to light her isolating and arduous journey. A daring exercise in vulnerability and forgiveness, Beast of Burden is an unflinching look at motherhood that urges viewers to recast their gaze.
In '/born ignorant in an abyss of light,' Josephine Lee has used handblown borosilicate glass, containing glowing, flickering plasma lit up by an electrode, to examine notions of home, toxicity, and nationalism by highlighting the precarity and fragility of her materials.
Surrounded by the blown glass and plasma are spherical porcelain vessels. Unique to Korea, the moon jar (dal hang-ari) takes two separately thrown bowls and joins them together to form a discernible seam, each moon jar’s unique characteristics falling on the asymmetrical line of its equator.
When: The public is invited to visit the gallery and see the exhibitions anytime during opening hours. The shows will be on view from January 19 until March 20. The gallery is open Tuesday to Saturday, from 12-5pm.
Where: BAF Gallery | 258 East 1st Avenue, Vancouver BC
Price: Completely free and open to the public!
Website: burrardarts.org
Hashtag: #BurrardArts