It had been six months since I last visited the Vancouver Art Galley, but I was there a couple weeks ago and saw the collection show and the Second Vancouver Special Triennial, now five years removed from its founding.
Like its first iteration, the VAG is once more the adult in the room when it comes to curation. Former VAG Chief Curator Daina Auguitus represented the gallery for the First Vancouver Special Triennial, when it teamed up with 221A's Head of Strategy Jessie McKee; this time it was the VAG's soon-to-retire Grant Arnold who was charged with saying yes, no or maybe to four relatively inexperienced curators pulled tight to cover all corners of our current moment.
A couple of nice inclusions (Charles Campbell's free-standing tree had great presence and energy, perhaps more so without the dimly-lit, yet gorgeously coloured, drawings surrounding it), but overall an exhibition that suffered from the VAG's usual tendency to deck the halls with too much artwork, a diffident gesture that some see as the gallery's only "argument" for a new and larger building.
And what of this new building? Is it even worth talking about anymore? Remember: this will not be the "purpose-built, stand alone, iconic building" former director Kathleen Bartels held out for but space in a mall known as the Chan Centre for the Visual Arts. Last I heard the CCVA would be built to budget, and that the gallery was awaiting $100 million from the federal government. In the meantime, curatorial salaries have been cut by 20-40%. No amount of subtraction will ever be enough to move the gallery to its new location, but the VAG must be seen to be trying.
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