Some Spontaneous Particulars: Vanessa Brown, Heide Hinrichs, Kathleen Ritter
Date/Time: Dec 8 2017, 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm
Vancouver, Access GalleryCost: by donation
Some Spontaneous Particulars takes as its departure point a phrase in American poet Susan Howe’s book-length poem Spontaneous Particulars: The Telepathy of Archives (2014): 'Often by chance, via out-of-the-way card catalogues, or through previous web surfing, a particular “deep” text, or a simple object […] reveals itself here at the surface of the visible, by mystic documentary telepathy. Quickly–precariously–coming as it does from an opposite direction. If you are lucky, you may experience a moment before.'
This exhibition presents never-before exhibited work by three artists whose research-based practices have drawn them to the work of historical women artists Marianne Brandt (for Brown), Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (for Hinrichs) and Mina Loy (for Ritter), whose own production and memory has been overlooked or stifled within the art historical canon. Presented in dialogue with Beginning with the Seventies: Activism, Art and Archives, a multi-year project initiated at the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery and curated by Lorna Brown, the object-based works in Some Spontaneous Particulars demonstrate particular concern for a material handling of the past, as a means to query the act and implications of retrieval, the ethics of translation, and consider the radical potential of a feminist archive.
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Vanessa Brown works in sculpture, painting and photography. Her primary medium is steel and she attempts to parse its associations with industry, weaponry and brutality, with its subtler qualities such as pliability, versatility and slightness. The imagery in her work draws from various sources including landscapes, historical crafts, recurring symbols from her own dreams, as well as the work and biographies of other female artists. She is based in Vancouver on unceded Coast Salish Territories. Brown graduated with a BFA from Emily Carr University in 2013 and was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Award. She has exhibited in Canada, Germany, the USA, and Mexico.
Heide Hinrichs works balance ambiguity and contradiction, telling stories of past emotions, mental states and gestures. In this process she often develops a sculptural language that is structured by the semantic exploration of everyday objects and found materials. Recent exhibitions include red offering (Lovenjoel, Belgium), The Event of the Thread (Dresden,Germany), Kathmandu Triennial (Nepal) and Heidelberger Kunstverein (Germany). Born in Germany, Hinrichs lives and works in Brussels.
Kathleen Ritter is an artist based in Paris. She was an artist in residence at La Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, in 2013. Her art practice broadly explores questions of visibility, especially in relation to systems of power, language and technology. Recent solo exhibitions took place at G Gallery, Toronto, and Battat Contemporary, Montréal, both in 2014. In addition Ritter has organized exhibitions in Canada and abroad. Her writing on contemporary art has appeared in ESSE, Prefix Photo, and Fillip as well as in numerous catalogues.
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