Why did the famous artist Jeff Wall choose an independent gallery in Vancouver’s Chinatown for his solo exhibition? Director Steven Dragonn: Persistence in art is worthwhile
Jeff Wall’s “Views In and Out of Vancouver” is being exhibited at Canton-sardine
Jeff Wall at Canton-sardine’s solo exhibition “Views in and out of Vancouver”. PHOTO: RADIO-CANADA/LAM WONG
RCI
Release date: 21:36, January 28, 2023
The latest solo exhibition “Views In and Out of Vancouver” by the famous Canadian artist Jeff Wall at CANTON-SARDINE in Chinatown, Vancouver Exhibited in an independent art space.
Jeff Wall, He is one of the most prestigious contemporary artists in Canada. After 14 years, his first solo exhibition in his hometown of Vancouver, he chose the independent gallery Canton-sardine in Vancouver’s Chinatown. Curated by artist Lam Wong, the exhibition will run until March 25.
At the opening ceremony, when asked why he chose this independent art space for the exhibition, 76-year-old Jeff Wall said lightly, “because they asked me” .
The director of the gallery, Steven Dragonn, said in an interview with Cantonese Chinese that he was overjoyed by this, because the museums and galleries cooperate with Jeff Wall are all top-notch, even if they are independent spaces, there are many more famous ones in Vancouver.
“I think that he chose our little-known space because he recognized the artistic direction we insisted on, which is really a great encouragement and support for us.” quoted by Steven Dragonn
At the opening ceremony of “Views In and Out of Vancouver”, from left to right, curator Lam Wong, famous artist and curator Zheng Shengtian, and Canton-sardine director Steven Dragonn. PHOTO: RADIO-CANADA/Roy Hoh
Views in and out of Vancouver
The old overseas Chinese called Vancouver the “city of clouds” , and this time “Views In and Out of Cloud City” (title in Chinese) exhibited a total of four works, three of which were landscape works of Vancouver taken by Jeff Wall between 1987 and 1999, and Use his signature transparencies lightbox for presentation. The work was shot in North Vancouver, New Westminster, and Surrey back then. Compared with the current landscape, it can be said to be another era.
“The reason why I make landscapes or cityscapes… is to study the process of settlement and from it to identify other elements that may be hidden in the landscape.” quoted Jeff Wall
Steven Dragonn explained that Jeff Wall took pictures of these landscapes, hoping that in a few years, a new generation of people can see what Vancouver looked like back then, and let everyone reflect on what is needed for urban development. Most of his themes are about Vancouver, including the community’s misunderstanding of aborigines, discrimination against Asians, the phenomenon that blacks are invisible in the community, and the appearance of white people in middle and low-level communities, all of which are strongly expressed in his pictures.
Who is Jeff Wall?
Jeff Wall was born in Vancouver, he received a master’s degree in Art History from the University of British Columbia, and continued his studies at the Courtaud Institute of Fine Arts, University of London, UK. In more than forty years of artistic career, Jeff Wall’s works are known for “complete works through posing and modification and reorganization of various elements of the picture, or directly built on the early paintings”, which he calls “cinematography” process – also breaks people’s inherent concept of photography.
His representative works include “Destroyed Room” (1978), “Picture for Women” (1979), “Death troops talk ” (1992), “A Sudden Gust of Wind after Houkusai” (1993) and so on.
He is well known in contemporary art photography and was awarded the Hasselblad Photography Award in 2002.
Wang Qingsong’s solo exhibition in Canton-sardine, 2021. PHOTO: RADIO-CANADA/CANTON-SARDINE
Canton-sardine
Steven Dragonn graduated from the Sculpture Department of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and studied film in France. After that, he spent six years in curatorial work in Guangzhou. In 2018, he co-founded this independent gallery in Vancouver with Yang Xiaoyan, a professor at the School of Communications and design of Sun Yat-sen University, and has always insisted on selecting artists for exhibitions based on his own artistic standards.
The two named the space “Canton-sardine” . Xianshuipu is the old Cantonese name for Vancouver’s Chinatown, and Shadian represents the artist’s own operation organization. Canton-sardine is located on the basement level of Sun Wah Center on Keefer Street, with an area of about 1,000 square feet (about 92 square meters).
“I kept asking myself, is this persistence meaningful? Most of the time, we cannot make profits from sales, because we are not a commercial gallery, we are an independent art gallery, we have our own standards, and we have curated many exhibitions of emerging artists as well. I have always been worried and doubtful whether the artistic direction we adhere to can last for a long time. But after this (Jeff Wall’s solo exhibition), I think it’s worth it.” quoted Steven Dragonn
Steven Dragonn also told reporter about the process of getting Jeff Wall’s attention.
In April 2021, he and Professor Yang Xiaoyan curated the photography exhibition of Chinese renowned artist Wang Qingsong, and participated in the Capture Photography Festival in Vancouver. As a result, Wang Qingsong’s exhibition won the first “Printing Price of Capture” , and a bonus of 10,000 Canadian dollars.
At that time, Claudia Beck, the judy of the Capture Photography Festival, and Andrew Gruft, a famous local collector, came to Canton-sardine and expressed their gratitude to Wang Qingsong’s works. Greatly appreciated. And not long after that, Canton-sardine suddenly welcomed a special guest, Jeff Wall——this surprised Steven Dragonn, and was a little flustered for a while.
He remembered that Jeff Wall watched the exhibition with great interest and very carefully. Moreover, he even finished watching the behind-the-scenes documentary in Wang Qingsong’s exhibition. It was only recently that Steven learned that Laudia Beck and Andrew Gruf had supported Jeff Wall’s art even before he became famous, and they were the biggest fan/collector of Jeff Wall’s works.
Afterwards, in June 2022, Jeff Wall once again came to another exhibition “Chawan” in Canton-sardine -this is a theme that can bring common memories to Vancouver artists in the 1970s and 1980s.
Also in that exhibition, Lam Wong boldly asked Jeff Wall whether he could have a solo exhibition in Canton-sardine.
Jeff Wall’s answer at the time was that he had to think about it. A month later, Jeff Wall called back Lam and told him solemnly that he had considered for a long time and decided to agree to their request.
(Yang Xiaoyan and Steven Dragonn’s YouTube channel conversation: Is art useful?)沙甸鹹水埠Canton-sardine
Interview, Editing: Yan Liang
Steven Dragonn 