Vanessa Kwan

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• About
• News
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• Projects
• Geyser for Hillcrest Park
• Brawl (with Norma)
• Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver
• The Storm and the Fall
• The Set-Up
• Ghost Stories (with Norma)
• So long we miss you forever
• Your Private Sky
• Your Private Sky (Penticton)
• David Bowie and Justin Timberlake
• Dog Day Afternoon (with Norma)
• Dishrag Cowboy Shirt
• American Eagle Quilts
• Vancouver Family
• Works in Progress
• Other things

• Built with Indexhibit

ABOUT

Hey, thanks for visiting.

I'm an artist based in Vancouver, BC, Canada. The work you'll find here is broad in media and approach. I'm often asked to define what I do, and, while it's a bit of a struggle, I've taken to summarizing it like this:

A lot of it is process-oriented, and site- or context-specific. I always work best when faced with a particular problem (for lack of a better word) and these pieces are the product of a variety of situations and opportunities. Whether it's postcards, sculpture or performance, the work reflects my interaction with a particular venue or situation. Recently this has led me to exploring public art and site-specific commissions.

Thematically the work often tries to explore the language of mass address. Advertisements, billboards, posters, signage, tourist paraphernalia, pop celebrities, and mass produced garments, all these have been of interest at one time or another. My work has been quite focused on exploring what room there is for personal engagement in all this cultural product.

I also work in the cultural sector as a programmer (currently with the Vancouver Art Gallery), administrator and volunteer. I consider this work to be an integral part of my life as an artist; I'm interested in the broad view, and my practice has always been supported and sustained by working with other artists and cultural producers.

BIO
Vanessa Kwan is a Vancouver-based artist and programmer. Her work has been exhibited at a number of galleries and artist run centres; solo exhibitions include Your Private Sky at the Or Gallery (2005), The Storm and the Fall at Access Artist Run Centre (2008), and Your Private Sky (Penticton) at the Art Gallery of the South Okanagan (2005). Recent public art commissions include Vancouver Vancouver Vancouver (2010) and Geyser for Hillcrest Park (forthcoming in 2012, with Erica Stocking), both for the City of Vancouver. She is a founding member of the arts collective Norma, who received a Mayor’s Arts Award for Public Art in 2011. She currently works as interdisciplinary arts programmer at the Vancouver Art Gallery, and as melancholic proprietor of Sad Sack, a soon-to-be-in-existence moveable event space.

Curriculum Vitae