A new work by emerging Vancouver artist Robert Arndt, commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery, opened to the public on Saturday, February 21, 2004. As part of the Gallery’s project NEXT: a series on emerging artists from the Pacific Rim, Robert Arndt has created an installation piece comprised of a film, photographs and a poster, that investigates the production and documentation of art.
In order to challenge traditional perceptions of art, Robert Arndt's practice is concerned with documentation itself as artwork. He highlights the notion that documentation may be all that is required for an idea to exist and resonate. Arndt's new work focuses on lines from a famous cinematic moment that reflect an instance between regret and realization. By using film, photography and the announcing poster, the artist has created a work that alludes to the promise of failure of personal, artistic and filmic utopias.
“Drawing on sources as varied as conceptual art and Hollywood film, Robert Arndt’s works exist between a set of ideas and a final product. In this staged work, Arndt encourages the viewer to consider the iconic nature of the actor and the entry of staged emotion into a contemporary vernacular,” commented Melanie O’Brian, Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery and curator of this exhibition.
Since graduating from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in 1998, Arndt has exhibited his work locally, nationally and internationally. Robert Arndt will speak about his new work, Lines for the Next Exhibition, on Thursday April 1, at 7.30pm at the Gallery.
NEXT: Robert Arndt was commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery and is the third installation in a new series titled NEXT: a series on emerging artists from the Pacific Rim. The NEXT space is a laboratory for new art and ideas in a wide array of media. This project reflects the Vancouver Art Gallery’s commitment not only to presenting new art but also to presenting new ideas in exhibition display and architecture. NEXT: Robert Arndt is curated by Melanie O’Brian, Curator.
The first project commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery to launch this series was Won Ju Lim’s Elysian Field North. The Korean American artist built a cityscape that referenced Vancouver’s cool northern architecture and played with notions of the futuristic ruin. The second project in the NEXT series was designed by Vancouver architect Oliver Lang. NEXT: LWPAC (Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture) was an attempt to reconceptualize the standard white-cube exhibition space and functioned both as a new model for presenting contemporary art and as an independent installation.
The Vancouver Art Gallery, the largest art gallery in western Canada, presents national and international exhibitions of works by a range of artists, from contemporary visionaries to historical masters. Founded in 1931, the Gallery has over 8,000 works in its collection. The home of the Gallery, situated in heart of downtown Vancouver, is a magnificent turn-of-the-century heritage building with 41,400 square feet of exhibition space.
IMAGE
Robert Arndt
Lines for the Next Exhibition, 2003
image courtesy the Artist
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