Eric Metcalfe D.F.A. is a Canadian visual and performance artist.

Early life

Eric Metcalfe was born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

and grew up in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Greater Victoria area has a population of 397,237. Th ...

. He travelled to Europe in 1960 and 1961, and on his return, worked as a truck driver for five years.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada He then met

Maxwell Bates Maxwell Bates LL.D (14 December 1906 – 14 September 1980) was an architect and expressionist painter. Biography Born in Calgary, Alberta in 1906, Bates started painting at an early age; his piece ''In the Kitchen'' was painted when he was 15 y ...

in 1966 who encouraged him in his practise as an artist. On a scholarship he entered the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic or Victoria) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. The university traces its roots to Victoria College, the first post-secondary instit ...

in 1967 and studied for three years with artists such as Dana Atchley and Peter Daglish, among others (1967-1971) graduating with his B.F.A. in 1971.

Career

With artists such as Hank Bull, Michael Morris, and Vincent Trasov, he explored comic book-style drawings and

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

conceptual art Conceptual art, also referred to as conceptualism, is art in which the concept(s) or idea(s) involved in the work take precedence over traditional aesthetic, technical, and material concerns. Some works of conceptual art, sometimes called insta ...

. In the 1970's, Metcalfe and

Kate Craig Kate Craig (September 15, 1947 – July 23, 2002) was a Canadian video and performance artist. She was a founding member of the artist-run centre the Western Front, where she supported the video and performance works of many artists while produc ...

to whom he was married (in 1969) started performing under the persona Dr. Brute and Lady Brute. They went dressed in leopard print to art openings and played leopard print instruments with the ''Brute Sax Band''. They also collected examples of leopard print imagery from art, advertisements, magazines, and everyday life, and distributed them through a mail-art network. Metcalfe called their project to cover the world in leopard spots "Brutopia". In 1973, Metcalfe was one of the eight original founders of the

Western Front Society Western Front (Western Front Society) is an artist-run centre located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1973 by eight artists (Martin Bartlett, Mo van Nostrand, Kate Craig, Henry Greenhow, Glenn Lewis, Eric Metcalfe, Mi ...

. In 2021, the University of Victoria held an exhibition titled ''Pop Anthropology'' of Eric Metcalfe’s oeuvre, spanning over sixty years, in celebration of the artist’s honorary doctorate (UVic DFA 2021, BFA 1970). It honoured his years as a student in Visual Arts at the University of Victoria in the early 1970s, as well as his lifetime achievements as a pioneer in performance art in western Canada and co-founder of the Western Front. The Eric Metcalfe fonds is in the collection of the Morris and Helen Belkind Gallery, Vancouver.

Awards

* 2000

Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award is a monetary award given since 1971 by the Canada Council for the Arts to Canadian artists judged to be outstanding in their mid-careers. Since 2005, the award is given to one recipient in each of the followi ...

from the Canada Council. * 2006 Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts * 2008

Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are annual awards for achievements in visual and media arts in Canada. Up to eight awards are presented annually with the prize amount is $25,000 Created in 2000 by then Governor General Adrie ...

. * 2015 Honorary Doctorate from

Emily Carr University of Art and Design Emily Carr University of Art + Design (abbreviated as ECU) is a public art university located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The university's campus is located within the Great Northern Way Campus in Strathcona. The university is a co-e ...

* 2021 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the

Collections

Metcalfe's work is collected in the following museums, among others: * Art Gallery of Greater Victoria * Art Gallery of Nova Scotia * Art Gallery of Ontario * Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery * Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) (Collaborative work with Hank Bull) * National Gallery of Canada * University of Victoria Legacy Art Gallery * Vancouver Art Gallery * West Vancouver Art Museum

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalfe, Eric Artists from Vancouver Canadian performance artists 1940 births Living people Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners