Cedric Bomford
Instant Coffee
Michael Drebert
Mark Dudiak
Suzanne Nagy
Nicole & Ryan
Ian Skedd
Kika Thorne

An Until We Have A Helicopter curatorial project

RECEPTION FOR THE ARTISTS: THURSDAY,  OCTOBER 15 FROM 6:00-9:00 PM
and by Appointment

Back Gallery Project Vancouver

buzz # 10 – 306 Abbott Street
Vancouver, BC V6B 2K9

T: 778.918.4924
WWW.BACKGALLERYPROJECT.COM

PUBLIC PARKING FACILITIES ARE LOCATED BESIDE THE ARMY AND NAVY ON W. CORDOVA STREET

Back Gallery Project is pleased to invite you to the opening reception of an exhibition of installation-specific works by Cedric Bomford, Instant Coffee, Michael Drebert, Mark Dudiak, Suzanne Nagy, Nicole & Ryan, Ian Skedd and Kika Thorne, guest curated by Until We Have A Helicopter.

All of the artists were invited to participate knowing that their work could only enter the gallery through a window located on the third floor without the use of devices external to the work. The artists deal with the vertical challenge in a variety of ways without compromising their usual practices. By incorporating helium balloons, protective packaging, heaving line, or a slingshot, the artists are able to participate in the exhibition by functionalizing their work.

Cedric Bomford works predominately on British Columbia’s coast, recent group exhibitions includes shows in Taipei, Germany and Sweden, solo shows in Australia, Toronto and Vancouver with upcoming projects in Victoria, Berlin and Vancouver. In 2010 Bomford will be on the Canada Council residency in Berlin, Germany.

Instant Coffee is an artist collective from Toronto and Vancouver. In 2009 they exhibited the Disco Fallout Shelter, at the Toronto Sculpture Garden and as part of Subvision, Hamburg; Nooks as part of the How Soon is Now, Vancouver Art Gallery; Light Bar as part of Assume Nothing, New Social Practice, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria; and Bright Future as part of 88 blocks Art on Main a Public Art Commission by Translink.

Michael Drebert recently showed The Queen’s Eyes at the Ministry of Casual Living, and at this very moment My Time Your Time at the Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem. River Ganges Crash Crawly’s was part of the show Sentimental Journey at the Vancouver Contemporary Art Gallery. He currently resides on the Coast Salish Sea – Songhees Territory.

Mark Dudiak received his BFA from the Emily Carr Institute in 2003. His recent exhibitions include Air Conditioned Jungle at Diaz Contemporary, and Time’s Museum of Shape and Form at the Access Artist Run Centre in Vancouver.

Suzanne Nagy recently returned to Vancouver after a sabbatical in Rio de Janeiro. Her solo exhibition Pull Over Parade was at Access Artist Run Centre  in Spring 2009.

Nicole Raufeisen and Ryan Witt live in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia and have contributed to recent exhibitions at the Ministry of Casual Living, Or Gallery, and Neuer Berliner Kunstverein. Upcoming exhibition include the Khyber ICA in spring, 2010.

Ian Skedd is an artist living and working in Vancouver BC. He recently completed his MFA at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London, UK. His most recent solo exhibition Sign Singing: Love Will Tear Us Apart, Joy Division, 1979, Deaf Choir, 2009 was held at the Western Front this past June.

Currently the programmer / curator at Vivo Media Arts Centre, Kika Thorne received her MFA from the University of Victoria, BC and has exhibited extensively including projects at Murray Guy, New York, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, Musee d’art Contemporain, Montreal, Portikus, Frankfurt, and the Power Plant, Toronto.

About the curators:

In 2005 Wes Cameron and Matthew Robertson created their collaborative entity Until We Have A Helicopter in order to have their operation of Lobby Gallery identified as a project-based artwork. For two years they facilitated site-specific installations in the unusual confines of the Dominion Hotel in Gastown before ‘kneeling’ the exhibition wall into an 18-foot-long cantilevered bench; a submissive action that also allowed gallery goers a place to sit.

In the 2008 exhibition UWHAH: Prequel at Gallery Atsui in Vancouver, they continued to work in a dimension between artist and curator by inviting artists to work with them to create an exhibition about them: having associates help invent a layered and incongruous mythology behind Until We Have A Helicopter.

Their interest in site-specific, context-driven production was further demonstrated in the exhibition UWHAH in January 2009 where they also launched a publication documenting their past projects. Challenging themselves to work site-specifically in a commercial gallery, the exhibition was based off the gallerist’s request to exhibit Kneeling Reprise (Chairs): two seats made from slices of the Lobby Gallery wall-bench. Three accompanying functional sculptures were meant to address elemental voids of the modernist gallery and comfort of the viewer.

please note:
Please RSVP to info@backgalleryproject.com to avoid disappointment due to capacity regulations.