1919 – 2020
Beginning in the mid-1990s, Gordon Smith painted ponds as subjects, working from both memories and photographs. In these works, Smith was fascinated by shifting fields of space, and in the interplay between landscape elements and abstraction.
The HR MacMillan Art Collection is comprised of contemporary works by BC artists acquired by The Vancouver Club with funds generated through the sale of Emily Carr’s ‘The Crazy Stair’ (The Crooked Staircase), a work gifted to the Club by Mr. MacMillan. ‘The Crazy Stair’ is now a part of the Audain Art Museum’s (Whistler) permanent collection of BC art.
“Ed Spence is a Vancouver-based artist whose work spans many disciplines and utilizes text, photography and public installation. His photocollage series mimics a digital aesthetic by dissecting portions of the image into tiny pixels which are cut and reorganized by hand.”
Deep Face explores Facebook’s recent corporate initiative to identify all faces posted to the website by using facial recognition algorithms – a somewhat intrusive proposition, but one that will be implemented, regardless.
“Image codes and conventions that reproduce historical meaning have continued to change in the context of electronic visual technologies. The ‘BSoD’ series is a metaphor for the ‘postmodern condition’; a condition that immerses humans in a world that has become increasingly isolated from reality through digital technologies; a condition wherein we experience very real bodily emotions of fear, tension, stress, frustration and vulnerability. The ‘BSoD’ stop error code that appears when computer systems are crashing best exemplifies the impact technology has had on our lives… and has become a universal sign of crisis and loss.”