PAST EVENTS, 2018
The James Black Gallery Collective hosts and curates exhibitions of work in many mediums and forms. The space has a combination of elements that allow artists to be playful with the design and usage of the space. See our Facebook events for workshops and venue rental events. The James Black Gallery events from 2018 documented below. Click through to read and look at photos from the event.
Muirin of the Sea
February 2nd, 2018
6-9PM
MUIRIN OF THE SEA|| Muirin, meaning “of the sea” in Scottish Gaelic, is a collection of pieces related to selkie mythology, shapeshifting, gender and identity. Using materials including discarded navy ship rope and willow harvested from vancouver’s abandoned lots, Lupino-Smith is constructing an installation reflecting on the arbitrary nature of gendered objects and actions, and the relationship of their body to the sea. Estraven Lupino-Smith is January's guest resident.
Left Uncertain
March 24th, 2018
6-9PM
LEFT UNCERTAIN|| LA based artist Serge Serum explores the complexities of the human psyche. Using reality as a springboard, he 'makes a scene' of the ordinary by distorting peoples' likenesses, in both his painted portraiture and the outrageous photographs. LEFT UNCERTAIN examines a body of work through a period of time where life is filled with change, uncertainty, and excitement. An examination of identity, personality. and wretched emotions portrayed through characters who are androgynous or nonbinary.
Strange Creatures
April 6,7,8, 2018
Opening 7PM
STRANGE CREATURES|| explores the identities and depictions of people and creatures on the fringes of history: those with associations with magic and witchcraft. Traditionally oracles, witches, and supernatural creatures are represented narrowly as hideous, violent, or crude, but participating artists are encouraged to explore these stereotypes in a way that opens the range of portrayal of the magical to include positive, diverse body types, a spectrum of gender, and even modern time periods. More than 15 artists are represented, showcasing the best in illustrative work from students and alumni at Emily Carr University.
The Oracle
April 12, 2018
6-9PM
THE ORACLE| The JBG presents a one night performance and installation by Julia Sinelnikova known best for her work with holograms, performance, and digital culture. Her light installations have been exhibited internationally, and she has performed widely as The Oracle of Vector Gallery. Sinelnikova has also exhibited site-specific installations for Miami Art Week / Art Basel annually since 2011. She holds a BFA in Sculpture from The Fashion Institute of Technology (SUNY). She lives and works in Brooklyn. 6-9PM
Interstitial Defect
April 20-24, 2018
Opening 7PM
INTERSTITIAL DEFECTS|| For the first time, The James Black Gallery presents a duo exhibition featuring works from Tessa Reed and Zandi Dandizette. An ideal crystal has every atom in a perfect, exactly repeating pattern. However, in reality, most crystalline materials have a variety of defects. Interstitial Defect have an extra atom squeezed where it does not fit. The location and physical nature of the gallery is itself squeezed among the burgeoning development of Vancouver's Mount Pleasant area. Crystalline pottery is created through careful temperature monitoring, but the outcome is naturally uncontrollable by the artist due to its organic material and plays upon this ever-forming landscape. Opening 7PM
Autobiographical Art: Recreating the Self
April 25, 2018
5-9PM
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ART| Ghinwa Yassine hosts this part-talk part-exercise session, you will take a close look at the impulses that drive autobiographical works of art and the intentions behind them. By looking at the process of different autobiographical artists and relating their work to MEMORY, HEALING, IDENTITY, and POWER, we will uncover the value of this art practice that is often misjudged as pure self-indulgence or narcissism. We will explore key concepts that will be directly put in practice through guided exercises.
PIP Magazine Vol 4 Launch
May 11, 2018
7PM
Yvette Tang Solo Show
May 10-12, 2018
Opening 7PM
PIP Magazine Vol 4|| Join us in launching Pip Magazine’s Vol. 4. Based on the theme “2100”, Vol. 4 presents creative works from various emerging artists, exploring the futuristic theme. Pip Magazine is a free, online magazine that was founded in the summer of 2016. It aims at connecting artists, creating critical conversations and promoting a wide range of perspectives. There will be drinks, crafts and more!
Yvette Tang|| The JBG presents first of Yvette Tang's world tour of imagination with her illustrations and provocative installations. A lover once describe me as "heretical, devilish, defiant, smutty, pervy = lascivious, wanton, lewd, indecent, non-conforming, with an endless appetite/ endless libido for the surreal and the extreme." And that is also my art, my bubble I live in, my subconscious ocean I swim in, euphorically, forever. Welcome to my dreamland.
ROVE
May 25th, 2018
6-10PM
ROVE|| Third participation in the ROVE artwalk by artists at the JBG. See the collection of studiomates and artists that regularly make up this space. Explore the many studiospaces of the building as well as a curated exhibition of the artists' works.
Bastard Tongue
June 15th, 2018
7PM
Bastard Tongue || An experiment in formal language. What do all these disparate artists from the accepted capital-A Art Canon have to say to one another when we strip away all semblance of emotion, history, story? What happens when we reduce the suffering/joy/pain/triumph of a painting to it's bare formal elements, divorced from the human hand that produced it? When the form is brought to it's barest, what does it say about it's content? Michael Mateyko / KOMBOH is a visual artist from Singapore / Alberta and works primarily in the space between commercial illustration and fine art.
SKYTHINK
June 25, 2018
7PM
SKYTHINK|| SKYTHINK is a collective of 4 songwriters & vocalists from Texas, Quebec, Kiev and New Jersey who weave together improvisation, body percussion and original songs through looping and layered harmonies. Touring from Vancouver Island down the west coast into California before a vocal improv workshop with Rhiannon (Bobby Mcferrin's Voicestra). Along the way, offering live performances that are part prepared, part improvised.
Permanence ||
Impermanence
July 9-16th, 2018
Opening 12th 6PM
Permanence Impermanence ||Brooklyn, NY based artists Kat Hooper & Jarid Blue will be creating site specific versions of their art for display and collaboration with the community at the James Black Gallery.
Both artists will draw inspiration from their surroundings and incorporate those influences into their work. During their stay Jarid will take photographs of natural/human-made textures from around the city and project them onto people in the space, and Kat will create several paintings and draw tattoo designs based on sounds she sees and ideas she gets from exploring Vancouver.
Clowder
July 26th, 2018
6-10PM
CLOWDER || Tessa and Tessa have teamed up to bring you a truly purrfect event. Cats have taken over the planet. Silly cat videos flood our screens, and cute cat memorabilia fill our shops. At the same time, felines are flooding shelters with unwanted kittens and filling them to max capacity. This show will aim to bring awareness to cat issues and raise money for CARES, a local cat shelter in need.
Fucking Against FASCISM
July 30th, 2018
7PM
Fucking Against FASCISM ||Fucking Against Fascism is film by Chelsea Poe and Courtney Troublemaking it's way to East Van for their Canadian debute. On this lovely summer evening you are going to be able to look forward to local talented queer acts mixed in with some smutty touring delights. The porn films brought to us by this dynamic duo will include films by international and American filmmakers as well as by Chelsea herself. Meet and greet with Chelsea Poe and Courtney Trouble after the screening with lots of amazing merchandise for sale.
Entry will be $10 with no one turned away for lack of funds.
QUICKIE
August 11th, 2018
630-11PM
QUICKIE|| definition: something done or made in a hurry: such as a quickly and usually cheaply produced work or a hastily performed act of sexual intercourse. In a society that's so fast, the next viral moment can already be over by the time you notice... artists were formally invited to engage with instant gratification in QUICKIE. Group juried exhibition of emerging artists.
Parallel Disorientation
September 6th, 2018
7PM
Parallel Disorientation ||Parallel Disorientation highlights the parallels between the artistic practices of Tessa Reed, Julianna Zwierciadlowska, and Marissa Diamond. In Parallel Disorientation, each artist explores the human experience in a different manner while seeking to challenge traditional modes of thought. For instance, we investigate how things are experienced via touch and interaction through objects, how political issues affect the human experience, and how the media and gender standards affect how a person views their own body.
Can't Sit Still Life
August 16th, 2018
6-11PM
Can't Sit Still Life|| "Can't sit still life" is a series of work Moody Rose Christopher made while traveling, or more accurately while in movement. She presents works on paper, drawings on trash, paintings on stolen canvas, and clay sculptures. Since moving to Brooklyn NY in 2017 Rose has been in a constant state of movement going from Brooklyn to Vermont, Berlin, Seattle and beyond trying to keep up with the hustle and an ever busy mind. Whether it be short lived apartment stays, hostels, squats, coffee shops, bars, residences, and anywhere else her body rests, she creates .
Fabricated Fantasy
September 30th 5-10PM
October 1st 2-5PM
Fabricated Fantasy ||Fabricated Fantasy is a collaborative visual art and sound exhibition by Artists: Cydney Eva Pattern and CostaBesta (South Africa) of PatternNation, Jason Bempong of Sleepless Mindz, Brianna Klassen (Bangalore), Erica Dee and Zandi Dandizette of James Black Gallery. Bringing together their collective love for colours, textiles and imagination Fabricated Fantasy will be a collection of new and existing work aimed at immersing the audience through textile, sound and texture.
Infoism
September 18th-28th
Opening 21st 7-11PM
Infoism|| Tirelessly working to get our brains back amidst the agency of these new objects. Physical and non physical, object and information. Information become object. Between ourselves and the other objects of interactions, a new transformed object. Bruised and battered and manipulated anew. JBG studiomates Kate Giles, Robyn Lough, and Kathyrn Wadel present work in this exhibition.
CARFAC BC Copyright Presentation
November 17, 2018
11 AM
CRAB,ROCK,STICK,LOSS
October 19th, 2018
7-11PM
CRAB,ROCK,STICK,LOSS || November guest resident Sylvie Ringer's
Exhibition and book launch. The drawings and paintings of the project and publication CRAB, STICK, ROCK, LOSS can be seen as associative narrations, based on the artists year long stay on Malcolm Island, BC.This work explores the notion of landscape as a state of mind and references places of cultural, mystical and personal significance. This event is part of the Vancouver Art Book Fair.
CARFAC BC COPYRIGHT PRESENTATION||Rose Ekins from Copyright Visual Arts will cover the basics of copyright, including information about your moral and economic rights, licensing your work, and the benefits of joining a copyright collective. Artists are often paid copyright residuals, and the more you understand your rights, the better prepared you are in the marketplace. Dr. Gregory Younging will speak about Indigenous intellectual property, with topics covering Traditional Knowledge and cultural appropriation, which offers insights into respectful engagement with the Indigenous arts community. All are welcome to attend, so that artists at any stage of their career may be aware of their rights.