Dana Wyse (born August 9, 1965) is a Canadian writer and visual artist.

Life

Wyse received her BFA from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

in 1991. She lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Work

Wyse’s early career was characterized by photography works exploring Canada and its history and environment. Photography works by Wyse can be seen in the book ''Vancouver: A History in Photographs.'' In 1996, Wyse began her best known artwork, a pill-themed

installation Installation may refer to: * Installation (computer programs) * Installation, work of installation art * Installation, military base * Installation, into an office, especially a religious (Installation (Christianity) Installation is a Christian l ...

called ''Jesus Had A Sister Productions''. It is a work-in-progress to which the artist adds new elements each year and that crosses the line between art and business.

Jesus Had a Sister Productions

This work, Wyse's longest running work, takes the form of a fictional pharmaceutical company. Each instalment is a series of pills, sprays, occasionally children’s toys and other media. These objects are packaged in plastic with a cardboard heading stapled to the top that lists their purpose. The work dissects aspects of human relationships such as trust, love, communication, pleasure and power. Woman's

utopic A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...

quest for perfection, achieved in instant time, is the underlying philosophy of ''Jesus Had A Sister Productions''. Wyse incorporates advertising images from the 1960s into her work to underline the

absurdity An absurdity is a state or condition of being extremely unreasonable, meaningless or unsound in reason so as to be irrational or not taken seriously. "Absurd" is an adjective used to describe an absurdity, e.g., "Tyler and the boys laughed at ...

of these images as well as woman's lust for shopping and

mass consumption Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the supp ...

Exhibitions

Wyse has participated in many solo and group exhibitions. The artist had solo exhibitions at Artcore Gallery in Toronto (2001), Third Avenue Gallery in Vancouver (2001), Galerie Anton Weller in Paris (2001), Torch Gallery in Amsterdam (2002), New Art Barcelona (2002), and many other locations. Dana Wyse Château de Montsoreau Musée d'art contemporain.jpg Château de Montsoreau Musée d'art contemporain Dana Wyse 2017 bookshop.jpg Dana wyse chateau montsoreau museum contemporary art.jpg

Collections

Dana Wyse has works on permanent display at the

Museum of Contemporary Art Museum of Contemporary Art (often abbreviated to MCA, MoCA or MOCA) may refer to: Africa * Museum of Contemporary Art (Tangier), Morocco, officially le Galerie d'Art Contemporain Mohamed Drissi Asia East Asia * Museum of Contemporary Art Shangha ...

, the

New Museum of Contemporary Art The New Museum of Contemporary Art, founded in 1977 by Marcia Tucker, is a museum in New York City at 235 Bowery, on Manhattan's Lower East Side. History The museum originally opened in a space in the Graduate Center of the then-named New Scho ...

Les Abattoirs Les Abattoirs, Musée – Frac Occitanie Toulouse, combines a museum of modern and contemporary art (''Musée'') and a regional collection of contemporary art (''Frac''). It is located in the French Occitanie region, in the city of Toulouse. L ...

, the Museum of Modern Art de la Ville de Paris, the

Palais de Tokyo The Palais de Tokyo (''Tokyo Palace'') is a building dedicated to modern and contemporary art, located at 13 avenue du Président-Wilson, facing the Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The eastern wing of the building belongs to ...

, and the

Château de Montsoreau-Museum of Contemporary Art The Château de Montsoreau-Museum Contemporary Art is a private museum open to the public in Montsoreau, France. It opened 8 April 2016. The permanent collection exhibited at Château de Montsoreau consists of Philippe Méaille's collection of ...

Publications

* Vogel, Aynsley and Wyse, Dana: ''Vancouver: A History in Photographs''. Canmore: Altitude Publishing 1997. * Lebovici, Elisabeth, Obrist, Hans Ulrich, Wyse, Dana: ''How to Turn Your Addiction to Prescription Drugs into a Successful Art Career''. Paris: Editions du Regard 2007.

References

Sources

* ''Global Feminisms: New Directions in Contemporary Art'', eds. Maura Reilly and Linda Nochlin, Merrell, 2007. * ''Femmes artistes/artistes femmes : Paris, de 1880 à nos jours'', Catherine Gonnard and Elisabth Lebovici, Hazan, 2007. * ''Dana Wyse: Jesus Had A Sister Productions 1996–2001'', Elisabeth Lebovici, 2001.

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wyse, Dana 1965 births Living people Artists from Vancouver Canadian installation artists Canadian women artists Canadian non-fiction writers Canadian women non-fiction writers University of British Columbia alumni Writers from Vancouver