Isabelle Pauwels (born 1975 in Kortrijk,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

) is a Vancouver-based artist who works primarily in video-based art. Pauwels received a BFA from the

Emily Carr Institute 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 ...

and obtained an MFA from the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

. Pauwels' work explores narrative structures, forms of storytelling and how they shape moral and emotional experiences. The narrative in her work does not follow causality; instead it performs in a twisting loop that circles around itself.

Career

Pauwel's first exhibition at Or Gallery in 2001 has been followed by multiple local and international exhibitions including at the Galerie Tatjana Pieters in Belgium, Power Plant in Toronto,

Henry Art Gallery The Henry Art Gallery ("The Henry") is a contemporary art museum located on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington. Located on the west edge of the university's campus along 15th Avenue N.E. in the University District, it wa ...

, and the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Franc ...

. In 2013, Pauwels was shortlisted for the

Sobey Art Award The Sobey Art Award is Canada's largest prize for young Canadian artists. It is named after Canadian businessperson and art collector Frank H. Sobey, who established The Sobey Art Foundation. It is an annual prize given to an artist 40 and under wh ...

. In 2008 Pauwels was one of eight artists in the ''Exponential Futures'' show at the Belkin Art Gallery, alongside Tim Lee, Alex Morrison, Kevin Schmidt, Mark Soo,

Corin Sworn Corin Sworn (born 1976) is an artist who lives and works in Glasgow. Her 2012 installation and film ''The Foxes'' was shown at the Scottish Pavilion of the 2013 Venice Biennale. Sworn was the recipient of the fifth edition of the Max Mara Art Pr ...

Althea Thauberger Althea Thauberger is a Canadian visual artist, film maker and educator. Her work engages relational practices rooted in sustained collaborations with groups or communities through social, theatrical and textual processes that often operate outside t ...

and Elizabeth Zvonar.

Notable works

Like…/ and, like/ you know/ totally/ right

This video work was made by Pauwels in 2012, as a part of her 2011 Media Arts production residency at 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 ...

. Performers in the video include her twin sister Valerie, Western Front co-founders Eric Metcalfe and

Glenn Lewis Glennon Ricketts Jr. (born March 13, 1975), professionally known as Glenn Lewis, is a Canadian neo soul singer–songwriter. Lewis earned a Grammy Award nomination in 2004 and has also won a Juno Award out of a total of six nominations. Early l ...

, as well as

Hank Bull Hank Bull D.F.A. (born 1949) is a Canadian artist, curator, organizer and arts administrator. Life and work Hank Bull was born in Calgary, Alberta. HIs father was an Anglican minister and his mother a weaver. He was raised in Ontario and Nova Sc ...

, from the Western Front. Pauwels utilizes repetition, cliché, and satire, commenting on the oppressive dynamics of stories and storytellers. The work references the site specific histories of the Western Front and numerous other fictions while simultaneously pointing at the viewer and their act of looking.

W.e.s.t.e.r.n.

A video piece made in 2010, Pauwels juxtaposes film footage of the artist's parents' home in Richmond with home movies shot in her grandfather's home in the Belgian Congo. The video aims to create space for the viewer to negotiate colonial history that resonates throughout the film. The video is accompanied by stills that are a part of the collection of the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

. The stills act as objects of evidence that simultaneously complicate and provide fragmentary evidence towards an understanding of the video projections.

,000,

Through a residency with

Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) is a multi-venue arts center at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, which opened on October 3, 2008. The building is named after Curtis Priem, co-founder ...

Pauwels produced this work. The work debuted as a live performance which premiered at EMPAC in 2014, and was later adapted to a single channel video and a radio play.

Select solo exhibitions

* 2012 – ''LIKE…/ AND, LIKE/ YOU KNOW/ TOTALLY/ RIGHT.'', Grand Luxe Theatre, Western Front, Vancouver * 2010 – ''Incredibly, unbelievably/The complete ordered field'',

, Seattle * 2008 – ''Triple Bill'',

Blackwood Gallery The University of Toronto Mississauga (UTM), also known as U of T Mississauga, is one of the three campuses that make up the tri-campus system of the University of Toronto. Located in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, the campus opened in 1967 as ...

, U of T, Mississauga & Artspeak, Vancouver * 2006 – ''Isabelle Pauwels'',

Catriona Jeffries Gallery Catriona Jeffries is an art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, that has been in operation since 1994. It focuses on the post conceptual art practices which have emerged from Vancouver and the critical relationships between these practices an ...

, Vancouver * 2004 – ''37A Lisgar Street: A Few Situations'',

Mercer Union Mercer Union is a Canadian artist-run centre in Toronto, Ontario, established in 1979 to exhibit contemporary art. History Mercer Union was founded in 1979 by artists Michael Balfe, Peter Blendell, Ric Evans, Peter Hill, Jamie Lyons, David MacW ...

: A Centre for Contemporary Art, Toronto * 2003 – ''Unfurnished Apartment for Rent'',

Contemporary Art Gallery A contemporary art gallery is normally a commercial art gallery operated by an art dealer which specializes in displaying for sale contemporary art, usually new works of art by living artists. This approach has been called the "Castelli Method" ...

, Vancouver * 2001 – ''Untitled'', Or Gallery, Vancouver

Select group exhibitions

* 2013 – ''Special Collection: Acquisitions and Archives'',

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in an award-winning building designed by architect Peter Cardew and o ...

, Vancouver * 2012 – ''The Distance Between You and Me, 3 Artists from Vancouver'', Los Angeles and Guadalajara, Vancouver Art Gallery * 2011 – ''The Plot: Keren Cytter, Jos de Gruyter and Harald Thys, Isabelle Pauwels,''

The Power Plant The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery is a Canadian non-collecting public contemporary art gallery located at the heart of Toronto, Ontario at the Harbourfront Centre. It is a registered Canadian charitable organization supported by its membe ...

, Toronto * 2011 – ''Elastic Frames'', Transmission Gallery, Edinburgh * 2009 – ''Morality'',

Witte De With Witte Corneliszoon de With (28 March 1599 – 8 November 1658) was a Dutch naval officer. He is noted for planning and participating in a number of naval battles during the Eighty Years War and the First Anglo-Dutch war. Early life and chil ...

, Rotterdam * 2008 – ''Keep the IS in FEMINISM'', Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver * 2008 – ''Exponential Future'',

, Vancouver * 2007 – ''The Lotus Eaters: New Vancouver Video Art'', Western Front, Vancouver * 2005 – ''White Noise:

Sara Mameni Sara Mameni (born March 29, 1977) is an assistant professor in the Department of Ethnic Studies at University of California, Berkeley. Education Mameni completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Visual Arts from Emily Carr University of Art and Design ...

and Isabelle Pauwels'', State Gallery, Vancouver

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pauwels, Isabelle Canadian women artists Living people Canadian video artists Women video artists 1975 births