Brian Jungen

Credit: Brian Jungen
Prototype for New Understanding #16, 2004
Private Collection, New York
Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery

This exhibition, the first survey of the work of the young Vancouver artist Brian Jungen, presents pieces produced in the last decade. Jungen’s art draws inspiration from both his analytic and sometimes humorous observation of contemporary consumer culture and his ancestral ties with the Dane-zaa Nation of northern British Columbia. Here, the famous Nike running shoes take on the form of ceremonial West Coast Native masks, while plastic lawn chairs are transformed into enormous whale skeletons. These works call into question the various economic, sociological and cultural values of the Western world, at the same time as they initiate a dialogue between Aboriginal and global cultures.

The exhibition, organized by Vancouver Art Gallery, was realized by Daina Augaitis, assistant chief and main curator of the institution, with the support of the Audain Foundation and The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The presentation to the Musée d'art contemporain is under the coordination of the curator Réal Lussier.

In connection with the exhibition Brian Jungen

Publications and Boutique

A 162-page full-colour catalogue, entitled Brian Jungen, was published by the Vancouver Art Gallery. It contains essays by Daina Augaitis, the Gallery’s chief curator/associate director and organizer of the exhibition; Trevor Smith, curator at the New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York; Mexican curator and critic Cuauhtemoc Medina; Ralph Rugoff, director of the Wattis Institute of Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; and Kitty Scott, curator of Contemporary Art at the National Gallery of Canada. The catalogue also features a conversation between Brian Jungen and British artist Simon Starling. It may be purchased for $65 at the museum’s Olivieri bookstore.

As well, the Musée Boutique offers visitors a selection of products inspired by the exhibition, including postcards, note cards and wrapping paper.

Meet the Artist

Brian Jungen will meet the public on Friday, May 26, at 5:30 p.m., just before the official opening.

Video

A videotaped conversation between Daina Augaitis and Brian Jungen will be screened continuously throughout the exhibition in the video room next to the galleries (original English-language version with French subtitles; running time: 14 minutes).

Reading Room

A selection of monographs and catalogues on Jungen is at visitors’ disposal in the Mariette Clermont Lounge adjoining the galleries. As well, the Media Centre offers visitors and researchers a more comprehensive array of publications on the artist and his work in its reading room, on the second floor of the museum.

Workshops and Day Camp

For the upcoming Montréal Museums Day, Sunday, May 28, the art workshops will offer Maskers at 12, 1, 2, 3 and 4 p.m. Taking inspiration from the works in the Prototype for New Understanding series (1998-2005), participants will cut out details of photocopied sneakers and turn them into fun masks. For all, with family or friends. Free all day long!

As well, a digital version of Maskers is scheduled for Saturday, June 3 and 10, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. Bring in your most colourful sneakers and give them new meaning! Using computer graphics software, you will digitize them to make them look like ceremonial Aboriginal masks. Cost: $12 per person. Registration: (514) 847-6239.

Finally, the exhibition Brian Jungen will be a focal point of the museum’s summer day camps. A few spots are still available, for 10 and 11-year-olds in the week of August 7 to 11, and for 12 and 13-year-olds from July 24 to August 4. Registration: (514) 847-6239.