//2007
October 26 – December 8, 2007
//Annual Members' Exhibition
Old Tech, New Text
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This non-juried exhibition is a pilot project that explores new approaches to the annual members' exhibition by asking member artists to respond to a selected theme.
"A table means does it not my dear it means a whole steadiness"
—Gertrude Stein
The sock is a technology. The pencil is a technology. The iPhone is a technology. The cup is a technology. The femur is a technology. The rope is a technology. Anyway, technology is always old again—soon. Would you have a moment to consider your rapport with the stuff? Would you have another one to consider making some new text/visuals on a single sheet of paper? If so, we'd be very happy. Mallarmé was anxious about the clean sheet of paper—but you are so relaxed. Please face a clean sheet of paper and record your thoughts—with any kind of precision—about toasters, telephones, Teflon, or tetracycline. Let your struggles be visible, please.
October 26 – December 8, 2007
//Reframing
Fariba Samsami
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Samsami's work addresses political events and gendered social realities in Iran, confronting the paradigms of oppression that impact women's lives. She responds to the rapid rise and expansion of Islamic culture in the West through technologies of information exchange and social control. Her installation recreates an identity-card photo booth. Photos taken of visitors while they are in the booth are printed and can be taken home.
Fariba Samsami was born in Tehran and now lives in Montréal. She has a BFA from Concordia University and a BFA from the College of Decorative Arts in Tehran. Samsami has exhibited at the Conseil des arts textile du Québec (Montréal), Articule (Montréal), Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario (Sudbury, Ont.), Maison de la culture (Montréal), Atelier Silex (Trois-Rivières, Que.), Hamilton Artists Inc. (Hamilton, Ont.), Grave (Victoriaville, Que.), Le CEG (Sorel-Tracy, Que.), the Centre culturel franco-manitobain (Saint-Boniface, Man.) and Modern Fuel Gallery (Kingston, Ont.).
August 31 – October 13, 2007
//Parallel World
Boja Vasic and Vessna Perunovich
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"Parallel World – The Architecture of Survival" is a sculptural and media installation incorporating photographs of temporary shelters in downtown Belgrade built by refugees from Kosovo and other migrants seeking a better life. The artists construct a shanty house in the gallery and present a two-channel video titled Gypsy Utopia. Their work considers the social, political and economic realities that force people into a nomadic existence.
Boja Vasic is a media artist based in Toronto. He has a BFA in Film and Television Directing from the University of Belgrade. He has exhibited at the Instituto Superior de Arte (Havana), Definitely Superior Art Gallery (Thunder Bay, Ont.), VU Center de la Photographie (Québec), YYZ Gallery, (Toronto), Mercer Union (Toronto), Third Tirana Biennial (Albania), XIII International Biennial of Art (Portugal) and the Kosovo Art Gallery (Prishtina).
Vessna Perunovich is represented by the Lonsdale Gallery (Toronto) and the Bjornson Kajiwara Gallery (Vancouver). Her education includes an MFA and a BFA from the Academy of Fine Arts at the University of Belgrade. Vessna's work has been shown at the XIII International Biennial of Art (Portugal), the Artiade-Olimpics of Visual Arts in Athens, the VI Yugoslav Biennial of Vrsac (Serbia and Montenegro), the 8th Havana Biennial in Cuba, the Definitely Superior Art Gallery (Thunder Bay, Ont.), and Galerie du Nouvel-Ontario (Sudbury, Ont.).
August 31 – October 13, 2007
//En'owkin Student Exhibition
Group
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The En'owkin Centre is a dynamic institution, which puts forth into practice the principles of self-determination and the validation of cultural aspirations and identity. An Indigenous cultural, educational, ecological and creative arts organization in the South Okanagan, the En'owkin Centre is taking a lead role in the development and implementation of Indigenous knowledge systems, both at the community and international levels.
July 6 - August 18, 2007
//Blinds, hides and other points of view
David Diviney
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David Diviney creates installations that explore objects from folklore and folkcraft as they appear within popular culture. In Blinds Hides and Other Points of View, Diviney uses found objects and appropriated imagery to create an open and often-broken narrative. In this semiotic game the meaning of an object is severed from its origins, leaving room for new and poetic interpretations. Diviney is interested in the backwoods ingenuity and creative gestures of rural America.
David Diviney is based in Kamloops, B.C. He has an MFA from NSCAD and a BFA from the Tyler School of Art. His work has been shown at the Galerie Wildwechsel (Germany), AKA Gallery (Saskatoon), Gallery 101 (Ottawa), Anenéo7 (Gatineau/Hull), the Art Gallery of Calgary, the Walter Philips Gallery (Banff, Alta.), the Edmonton Art Gallery, the Ottawa Art Gallery and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
July 6 - August 18, 2007
//Urban Cowboys
Randy Grskovic
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Randy Grskovic’s work marks the intersection of the magnificent and the absurd within utopian notions of technological advancement. In this installation he uses truck advertisements from 1960’s Popular Mechanics magazines to challenge the promotion of this popular vehicle as symbol of masculinity.
Randy Grskovic holds a BFA from Okanagan University College. He has exhibited at The Lift (Montréal), the Alternator Gallery, Okanagan University College, the Duotone Arts Festival (Kelowna) and Gallery Vertigo (Vernon, B.C.).
May 12 – June 23, 2007
//In-Division: Quebec Exchange
Group
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Laurent Gagnon, Stéphanie Pelletier, Mathieu Valade and Yannick Pouliot
This exhibition is part of an exchange between the Alternator Gallery and L'OEil de Poisson, an artist-run gallery in Québec. Artists from Québec and British Columbia exchange ideas with the goal of enhancing understanding between French and English cultures in Canada. This exhibition is critical to creating a sense of commonality and community between two provinces separated by language and geographic distance.
Laurent Gagnon holds a Master's degree in visual arts from Laval University in Québec. He has exhibited his work at L'OEil de Poisson and Laval University in Québec and Trompe-L'Oeil Gallery in Ste. Foy, Que.
Stéphanie Pelletier holds a Bachelor's degree in visual arts from Laval University in Québec. Her work has been shown in a solo show at Dare-Dare (Montréal).
Yannick Pouliot has Bachelor's degree in fine arts from Laval University in Québec. He has an upcoming solo exhibition at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal and has shown his work at Vu and l'Oeil de Poisson in Québec.
Mathieu Valade has a Master's degree from Laval University in Québec. He has shown his work at Centre 3e Impérial in Granby, Que., and Atelier Silex in Trois Rivières, Que.
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March 16 – April 28, 2007
//Light Between Us
Gilles Morissette
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Light Between Us / Lumière entre nous is an installation that focuses on issues of identity as it is formed through sight and knowledge of the other, based on the ideas of French philosopher Emmanual Levinas. Working in collaboration with a group of 125 students from a French-language school in Kelowna, L'école Anse-au-sable, Morissette will use digital and drawn traces of the body to create an environment in which viewers are confronted with the question of their own identity.
Gilles Morissette is a Montréal-based artist with a doctorate from the University of Paris VIII. He has a MFA from Concordia University and a BFA from the University of Alberta. He has shown internationally in solo shows at Observatoire 4 (Montréal), En Tangsogade 4 Udstillling (Denmark), Montréal art Interculturel and Chapelle de Barbezieux (France).
March 16 – April 28, 2007
//Material Matters
UBC Okanagan students
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By Ketrena Schultz, David Markin, Cindy Marshall, Pudy Tong and Caitlin ffrench. This show is part of an ongoing tradition of exhibitions by UBC Okanagan students in the gallery's project space to support their pedagogical process through the experience of working with a professional gallery.
January 19 – March 3, 2007
//Selling Venus
Dominique Rey
Selling Venus explores the subject of female subjectivity and sexuality in a series of photographs, videos and audio recordings taken of women working at exotic striptease clubs. By working as a stripper, the artist gained access to the backrooms of the club where she photographed and interviewed the women as they prepared to go on stage.
Dominique Rey has an MFA from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College and a BFA from the University of Manitoba (including a summer studying at Yale University). She has held solo exhibitions at Gallery TPW (Toronto), Plug In ICA (Winnipeg), Le centre Clark (Montréal) and Michael Gibson Gallery (London, Ont.).
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January 19 – March 3, 2007
//Converge
Cherie Stocken
Converge is a media installation that deals with issues of cultural convergence. Stocken, who is based in Kelowna, BC, is of aboriginal and European descent and shares her experience of identity struggle through video and photography. Her work engages with history and the ways it has defined the relationships between cultures.
Cherie Stocken has a BFA from UBC Okanagan. Stocken has exhibited in group exhibitions at the Alternator Gallery for Contemporary Art, Arusha Centre (Calgary) and UBC Okanagan. Her videos have been screened at the imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival (Ontario), the Ki-Low-Na Friendship Center (Kelowna), the University of Oklahoma and the Red Carpet Film Festival (Vernon).
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