The Vancouver Art Gallery Announces Summer Exhibition Lineup

The Vancouver Art Gallery Announces Summer Exhibition Lineup

The Vancouver Art Gallery Announces Summer Exhibition Lineup

This summer, experience a monochrome journey, compelling public artworks and a new initiative highlighting the Gallery’s collection.

JUNE 6, 2024, VANCOUVER, BC // Traditional Coast Salish Lands including the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm), Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw) and Tsleil-Waututh (səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ) Nations.

This weekend, the Vancouver Art Gallery launches its summer season with: Black and White and Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey, Offsite: Hank Willis Thomas and 1:1 Artists Select.

Beginning on the first floor, Black and White and Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey guides viewers on a journey through the history of monochrome, from its modern beginnings to today’s contemporary manifestations. The exhibition moves through rooms of black abstraction to white-on-white expression, peppered with vibrant interludes of colour.

Featuring over 60 artists and more than 100 artworks, Black and White and Everything In Between is an ode to the monochrome, celebrating its artistic possibilities through varying styles, genres, themes and mediums, including scent and sound-based expressions. Drawn almost entirely from the Gallery’s permanent collection, works by international artists—such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Cy Twombly, Lui Shou-Kwan, Anish Kapoor and Rachel Whiteread—are shown alongside local artists Mina Totino, Evan Lee, Andrew Dadson, Liz Magor and Neil Campbell, among many others. Vancouver artist Khan Lee welcomes visitors before they enter the Gallery with a special window project on the Georgia Street facade, while inside the exhibition, an immersive installation by James Turrell bathes viewers in light.

“This playful exhibition is the perfect way to move into summer at the Gallery,”

said Anthony Kiendl, CEO & Executive Director of the Vancouver Art Gallery.

“We welcome thousands of visitors from all over the world— especially during summertime—and I am excited to see an impressive lineup of local, national and international artists, exploring the depth and diversity of our collection.”

The Gallery is also celebrating the 15th anniversary of its public art program Offsite, located at 1100 West Georgia Street. For the 2024/2025 year, the Gallery presents three major sculptures by New York-based artist Hank Willis Thomas. In his wide-ranging conceptual art practice, Thomas explores how contemporary society commodifies race and gender and perpetuates cultural stereotypes. He has increasingly made work for the public realm, creating large-scale monuments that often feature an isolated gesture from a photograph or circulated image. Thomas’ powerful sculptures represent disembodied hand gestures that evoke symbols of care, triumph and exaltation. These sculptures have been shown individually around the world, from Basel, Switzerland to New York City, but this will be the first time all three of Thomas’ stainless-steel works will be exhibited together, addressing notions of protest and social injustice.

This is the first solo exhibition of Hank Willis Thomas’ work in Vancouver. These works have significant resonance as they are installed along the public route of protests and political marches in the city. At a time when the roles and relevance of public monuments are being debated, Thomas is creating impactful new monuments for our era.

Also launching in June is the new curatorial initiative 1:1 Artists Select, which invites Vancouver-based artists to select one work from the Gallery’s collection to be displayed in dialogue with their own, resulting in a dynamic series of short, pop-up projects in the Gallery’s Forecourt. The series opens with one of Vancouver’s most exciting contemporary artists, Stan Douglas—internationally acclaimed for his films and photographs, and, more recently, theatre productions. The series will continue to spotlight both well-known and emerging artists through 2024 and 2025, including Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Liz Magor, Jin-me Yoon, Russna Kaur and Douglas Coupland. Conceived by Eva Respini, Deputy Director & Director of Curatorial Programs, the project aims to put audiences at the centre and artists at the forefront of the Gallery experience.

“The exhibitions this summer celebrate our collection and activate the Gallery’s spaces— both indoor and outdoor—through participation, contemporary discussion and new types of art experiences,” says Eva Respini, Deputy Director & Director of Curatorial Programs. “The 1:1 Artists Select initiative in particular speaks to this vision, ensuring the understanding and experience of art starts as soon as you enter through our doors into the galleries.”

To welcome more visitors during peak tourist season, The Vancouver Art Gallery has transitioned to new summer hours, and will be open seven days a week until September 3, 2024.

Vancouver Art Gallery Summer Hours:
Sunday: 10 AM – 5 PM 
Monday: 10 AM – 5 PM 
Tuesday: 12 PM – 5 PM 
Wednesday: 10 AM – 5 PM 
Thursday:  10 AM – 8 PM 
Friday: 10 AM – 8 PM 
Saturday: 10 AM – 5 PM