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21 October 2010 – 7 November 2010

Satellite Gallery, 560 Seymour Street, Vancouver

Glenn Lewis: 4 Intersections

  • Glenn Lewis

    Artist

    Glenn Lewis (Canadian, b. 1935) is a contemporary conceptual artist based in Vancouver. Lewis became a central figure within Vancouver’s prolific avant-garde art scene of the late 1960s. Initially trained in ceramics, his practice expanded to include photography, sculpture, performance and video, and is often grounded in collaborative projects or approaches. Lewis’s work questions the dualities of the social and the natural, the conventional and the mythical, as well as the static and the transient. Over time he has become increasingly inspired by paradise myths, nature and topiary, which motivated his travels around the world photographing gardens. These interests intersect in his commitment to preserving rare and regional botany. Lewis received a degree from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958 (now Emily Carr University) and later a teaching degree from the University of British Columbia. He went on to study ceramics under artist and potter Bernard Leach at St. Ives in Cornwall, England from 1961 to 1963. Upon returning to Vancouver, Lewis became involved in numerous artists’ collectives and artist-run centres, including Intermedia (1970) and the New Era Social Club (1968). In 1973, he co-founded the Western Front Society with Martin Bartlett, Mo van Nostrand, Kate Craig, Henry Greenhow, Eric Metcalfe, Michael Morris and Vincent Trasov. As an educator, arts administrator and arts programmer, Lewis has curated numerous exhibitions and programs, including the Performance Art Program at the Western Front (1977-79), the Exhibition Program at the Western Front (1986-87) and the Western Front Historical Exhibition at the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany (1983). Lewis has served on numerous boards and councils, including the Vancouver Art Gallery Board of Directors and the Western Front Board of Directors. His work has been exhibited extensively across Canada and abroad.

     

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Opening reception: Saturday, October 23, 6-9 pm

Three major institutions are about to embark on a groundbreaking arts initiative in the heart of downtown Vancouver. The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Museum of Anthropology and Presentation House Gallery—with the generous support of the Michael O’Brian Family Foundation—will open the doors to Satellite Gallery on Saturday, October 23rd. This is a new, shared project space devoted to exploring the boundaries of artistic and institutional practices.

“In addition to the opportunities provided by established art institutions in Vancouver,” said Michael O’Brian of the Michael O’Brian Family Foundation, “there is a need and desire for practitioners and students to have exhibition spaces to try out new projects and engage in meaningful dialogue with the public. Satellite Gallery is an ideal space for experimentation, learning and engagement in the arts.”

Satellite Gallery opens with a significant nod to Vancouver’s own history of experimental art, presenting an early video installation by Vancouver-based artist Glenn Lewis. Exhibited here for the first time in a completed state, 4 Intersections depicts a performance that took place in 1969, only a few blocks away from Satellite Gallery, marking the block bordered by Dunsmuir and Homer, Hamilton and Pender streets.

Glenn Lewis was born in Chemainus in 1935 and studied at the Vancouver School of Art, UBC (where he also taught), and with the ceramicist Bernard Leach in England. Initially working in ceramics, by the mid-1960s he began developing a remarkably expansive art practice that has been widely exhibited, performed and screened.

4 Intersections is a part of the exhibition Flakey: The Early Works of Glenn Lewis at Presentation House Gallery in North Vancouver, through November 14th, 2010. It is curated by Reid Shier and Helga Pakasaar and organized by the staff of Presentation House Gallery.

Special opening-night performance, 7 pm:
Petroglyphs, a new performance work by Victoria-based artist Peter Morin, will help to inaugurate the Satellite Gallery. Peter uses a six-square-metre button blanket and new petroglyphs to explore connections between Indigenous knowledge, community and urban spaces. Organized by the UBC Museum of Anthropology.

 

Image (above): Glenn Lewis, 4 Intersections (still), 1969, video. Courtesy of the artist.

 

Satellite Gallery operated from 2010 to 2015 and was a project of the Michael O’Brian Family Foundation. Located on the second floor of 560 Seymour in the former A&B Sound building, Satellite Gallery provided an experimental exhibition space committed to supporting contemporary art practices, shared between Charles H. Scott Gallery (ECUAD), the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (UBC), the Museum of Anthropology (UBC) and Presentation House Gallery.

  • Glenn Lewis

    Artist

    Glenn Lewis (Canadian, b. 1935) is a contemporary conceptual artist based in Vancouver. Lewis became a central figure within Vancouver’s prolific avant-garde art scene of the late 1960s. Initially trained in ceramics, his practice expanded to include photography, sculpture, performance and video, and is often grounded in collaborative projects or approaches. Lewis’s work questions the dualities of the social and the natural, the conventional and the mythical, as well as the static and the transient. Over time he has become increasingly inspired by paradise myths, nature and topiary, which motivated his travels around the world photographing gardens. These interests intersect in his commitment to preserving rare and regional botany. Lewis received a degree from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958 (now Emily Carr University) and later a teaching degree from the University of British Columbia. He went on to study ceramics under artist and potter Bernard Leach at St. Ives in Cornwall, England from 1961 to 1963. Upon returning to Vancouver, Lewis became involved in numerous artists’ collectives and artist-run centres, including Intermedia (1970) and the New Era Social Club (1968). In 1973, he co-founded the Western Front Society with Martin Bartlett, Mo van Nostrand, Kate Craig, Henry Greenhow, Eric Metcalfe, Michael Morris and Vincent Trasov. As an educator, arts administrator and arts programmer, Lewis has curated numerous exhibitions and programs, including the Performance Art Program at the Western Front (1977-79), the Exhibition Program at the Western Front (1986-87) and the Western Front Historical Exhibition at the Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany (1983). Lewis has served on numerous boards and councils, including the Vancouver Art Gallery Board of Directors and the Western Front Board of Directors. His work has been exhibited extensively across Canada and abroad.

     

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