The Contemporary Art Gallery (CAG) is a non-profit public

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" ...

in downtown

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 ...

. The CAG exhibits local, national, and international artists, primarily featuring emerging local artists producing Canadian contemporary art. It has exhibited work by many of Vancouver's most acclaimed artists, including Stan Douglas, Ian Wallace,

Rodney Graham William Rodney Graham (January 16, 1949 – October 22, 2022) was a Canadian visual artist and musician. He was closely associated with the Vancouver School. Early life Graham was born in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on January 16, 1949. ...

Liz Magor Liz Magor (born 1948) is a Canadian visual artist based in Vancouver. She is well known for her sculptures that address themes of history, shelter and survival through objects that reference still life, domesticity and wildlife. She often re-purpo ...

, and Brian Jungen, and it continues to feature local artists such as

Damian Moppett Damian Moppett (born 1969), is an artist whose practice spans sculpture, painting, drawing, photography and video and who often uses one medium as the starting-point for another. In a similar way, he uses movements in art history or what are for ...

, Shannon Oksanen, Elspeth Pratt, Myfanwy MacLeod, Krista Belle Stewart and many others. International artists who have had exhibitions at the CAG include

Dan Graham Daniel Graham (March 31, 1942 – February 19, 2022) was an American visual artist, writer, and curator in the writer-artist tradition. In addition to his visual works, he published a large array of critical and speculative writing that spanned ...

, Christopher Williams, Rachel Harrison, Hans-Peter Feldmann and Ceal Floyer. Other notable people that have curated or written for the CAG include

Douglas Coupland Douglas Coupland (born 30 December 1961) is a Canadian novelist, designer, and visual artist. His first novel, the 1991 international bestseller '' Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture'', popularized the terms ''Generation X'' and ''McJ ...

Beatriz Colomina Beatriz Colomina (born 1952) is an architecture historian, theorist and curator. She is the founding director of the Program in Media and Modernity at Princeton University, the Howard Crosby Butler Professor of the History of Architecture and Direct ...

, Roy Arden, and John Welchman. The gallery offers free admission to all visitors.

History

Established in 1971, the Contemporary Art Gallery (originally called the Greater Vancouver Artist's Gallery) began as an outgrowth of the Social Planning Department of the City of

, in which Vancouver artists were hired for a six-month period to produce art for exhibition at the gallery, and for inclusion in the City of Vancouver Art Collection. In 1976, the CAG was incorporated as a registered federal charity and a

non-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

society under the Societies Act of British Columbia. In 1984, the Contemporary Art Gallery became an artist-run centre. It was widely recognized for providing initial solo exhibitions and catalogues for many of Vancouver's now well-known artists. By the early 1990s, the exhibition program had expanded to include artists of national and international origin. In 1996, the Contemporary Art Gallery was transformed from an artist-run centre into an independent public art gallery, fulfilling the need for a contemporary visual arts institution with programming positioned between the vibrant experimentalism of Vancouver's artist-run centres and the more popular programs of large general-interest institutions. In May 2001, the Contemporary Art Gallery moved to a new purpose-built facility.CAG About
''Contemporary Art Gallery''. Retrieved 2009-05-23. Contemporary Art Gallery Christian Kliegel Production Postings Exhibition 2006

Contemporary Art Gallery Christian Kliegel Production Postings Exhibition 2006

In 2006, Vancouver artist Christian Kliegel's exhibit, "Production Postings," featured hundreds of signs that film and television production units had used to direct their casts and crews to filming locales; "the general design and style of these brightly coloured signs are formulaic and a ubiquitous part of Vancouver's urban landscape," reads the exhibit description. Film production companies claimed these signs as stolen property, the Vancouver police were contacted, and gallery officials were forced to take down some of the signs and replace them with photocopies. "If anything," Kliegel claimed, "the movie companies themselves practice location theft by setting a film in Vancouver and making it look like another city." Christina Ritchie, the gallery's Director, posted a letter addressed to Off-Set Rentals on the gallery's front door, telling the company's officials that she found it "sad and disappointing" that they could not appreciate Kliegel's "unique and insightful image of Vancouver."

Building

Contemporary Art Gallery Shannon Oksanen Summerland Exhibition 2008

The Contemporary Art Gallery is located in the ground floor and mezzanine of a residential condominium building at 555 Nelson Street, at the corner of Nelson and Richards, just on the edge of

Yaletown Yaletown is an area of Downtown Vancouver, Canada, bordered by False Creek and Robson and Homer Streets. Formerly a heavy industrial area dominated by warehouses and rail yards, since the 1986 World's Fair it has been transformed into one of the ...

, in

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, ...

, Canada. In 2001, Martin Lewis, a UBC Professor and Noel Best Architect AIBC designed the facility the CAG now occupies. The exhibition facility consists of two galleries and a series of window vitrines on the façade that provide an additional opportunity for exhibition. The B.C. Binning Gallery is and the Alvin Balkind Gallery is . A reception area adjoins the reading room, in which visitors can access information on current and past exhibitions. The Abraham Rogatnick

Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

, which participates in an international catalogue exchange with other galleries and museums, is located on the second floor and is open to the public by appointment. The building was awarded an AIBC Architectural Award of Excellence, Lieutenant Governor Medal in 2002. The Contemporary Art Gallery operates on the ancestral and unceded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (

Musqueam The Musqueam Indian Band ( ; hur, xʷməθkʷəy̓əm ) is a First Nations band government in the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is the only First Nations band whose reserve community lies within the boundaries of the City of Vancou ...

), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation.

Programming

In 2018 the gallery began a five-year contract to curate art in the London Canada Gallery at the Canadian High Commission, London. In 2019 the gallery launched the ''How far do you travel?'' program, placing contemporary art on the side of Vancouver Translink buses.

Notable publications

*''Christopher Williams: Archäologie Beaux Arts Ethnography Théâtre-Vérité'' by Claudia Beck and John Miller. Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, BC, 2005. ()

References

External links