Elizabeth Zvonar

In this new body of work Vancouver artist Elizabeth Zvonar pursues the connections between Cubism, representations of the 4th Dimension and rubber bands as metaphors for time. “I find that at the end of a journey, which of course is neverending, I have found things out.” This quote from British playwright Harold Pinter, is an apt description for *On Time*, an array of sculptures and collage works that act as possible portals into implausible places. 

*On Time* delves into the realms of science, philosophy and religion by examining how the desire to move between realms—earthly, spiritual or dimensional—is portrayed through invention, ritual and, ultimately, image. Zvonar’s reflection on Cubism and its relationship to Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, as well as her consideration of counter-cultures such as the beat generation and hippy culture, focuses on a common desire to transcend the physical limits of temporal reality. Whether it is the simple gesture of “thumbs up“ or a picture of a popular music icon, she captures this ambition by drawing on familiar images. Through her use of scale, mix of materials and combination of imagery, Zvonar manages to render the familiar somewhat absurd.  She captures a humour that taps into an optimism and innocence that seems to belong in some other realm. 



Interview: Jenifer Papararo and Elizabeth Zvonar

A collage of two overlapping hands making a butterfly hand gesture in front of a picture of an orange and blue nebula. 

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A thin table with a circular glass top. Seven cubes sit stacked on top of each other. A framed image of two people with long hair reading a book. Their faces are replaced with colourful stripes. 

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A long white rectangular block leans against twelve black mannequin arms that are attached to its sides. On the back wall, a hand protruding out the wall, holds on to long brown ribbon.

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Installation shot of Elizabeth Zvonars work in a gallery. Three images hang on a different wall. A small table with cubes on top sits to the left, a large and long rectangular block sits to the right.

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Installation shot of Elizabeth Zvonars work in a gallery. Three images hang on different walls. Small tables with cubes on top sit throughout the space, a large rectangular block sits to the left.

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On Time

*Keep the IS in FEMINISM* is a collection of new Feminist slogans commissioned for the Contemporary Art Gallery’s street front vitrines. For this project we invited prominent feminist artists along with emerging artists both female and male to “reinvent the ‘f’ word: feminism,” a directive taken from the renowned New York artist and activist collective Guerilla Girls.

Faith Ringold’s “Woman, Freedom, Now” from 1971 still has a resonant tone, but its sense of urgency has waned. We wanted a new round of slogans to capture that original urgency by inflecting the very notion of Feminism back into a contemporary conversation. It’s not only that women are under represented in politics and over represented as objects, it is that women, young and old, no longer identify themselves as feminists. Even with the best of intentions there has been a slow fading of “feminists” as we watch them slide into the history books.

In the last two years there has been an active looking back to feminist art practices of the 1970s. Two prominent references include the traveling block buster *WACK: Art and Feminist Revolution*, which was at the Vancouver Art Gallery. WACK elicited numerous responses from local artists and galleries such as Centre A’s *TentEvent: Generating Exchange* and Artspeak’s *Persistence: An Archive of Feminist Practices*. Also, Frieze magazine’s 2007 feminist issue gave a detailed look at historical feminist work as well as featured new activist practices. Renowned art critic Lucy Lippard declared at  *The Feminist Futures* conference at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2007 that “we’ll be post-feminists when our goals have been met, and not before.” The return of Feminist discourse to the contemporary art table is not a surprise: the time is ripe to pay new attention to this now forty year old practice, to rejuvenate the terms of feminism to better understand what it has effectively achieved and lay out what still needs to be done.

The title of the exhibition was taken from the list of new slogans and is by Winnipeg-based writer, psychoanalyst and performer Jeanne Randolph. Sixteen slogans were displayed over two months. From November 21 to December 21, 2008 we featured slogans by Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby, Hadley + Maxwell, Randy Lee Cutler, Kelly Mark, Micah Lexier, Myfanwy Macleod, Isabelle Pauwels, Jeanne Randolph, and Martha Wilson, and from December 22, 2008 to January 18, 2009 we featured slogans by Kate Davis, Dave Dyment, Kristina Podesva, FASTWÜRMS, Kelly Mark, Jeanne Randolph, and Elizabeth Zvonar.


A street view of the CAG window spaces, which are painted pink and each contain a large poster with large black block text. 

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Two large fliers are installed in the CAG’s window spaces. The flier on the left mimics CAG’s circular-shaped logo. It says FAG, Feminist Art Gallery. The other one is also a text-based work.  

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Three large fliers are installed in the CAG’s window spaces. They are all text-based works showing slogans such as “Pheminism is Phat.” All the walls behind those windows are pink. 

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This photograph depicts one of the CAG window spaces. Behind a glass window on a pink wall, a large white filter is mounted. The flier says FAG, Feminist Art Gallery in black block fonts. 

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Kate Davis, Dave Dyment, Emily Vey Duke and Cooper Battersby, Hadley + Maxwell, FASTWÜRMS, Randy Lee Cutler, Kelly Mark, Micah Lexier, Myfanwy Macleod, Isabelle Pauwels, Kristina Podesva, Jeanne Randolph, Martha Wilson, Elizabeth Zvonar

Keep the IS in FEMINISM

*Concrete Language* brings together contemporary artworks that explore visual and spatial relations in language. The project is conceived to examine the visual dynamics of language, creating a contemplative moment that is outside the way we commonly use or view language. Each of the artists in this international group exhibition builds relations between text and visual material that move beyond typical discursive or diagrammatic functions. Instead, the artists meld word and image to locate meaning at the meeting point, leveling the site of impact by creating an overt and immediate interdependence between what is being said and how it is visually perceived. The presentation of language is not used to emphasize meaning, but to create layers of meaning that unfold spatially over time and form a relation between language and space, creating a lull where perception is essential in establishing meaning. 

*Concrete Language* is sponsored by Donovan, Yaletown Contemporary Homes by Cressey.

Essay: “Concrete Language,” Jenifer Papararo and Christina Ritchie

A photograph of a busy city street corner hangs on a white gallery wall. A strip of yellow paint runs down the left side of the photograph. 

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A white neon sign is attached to a white wall. It is attached some feet above the floor. The sign reads “299,792,458 m/s.” White tubes are hanging from both ends of the sign.

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A brown film projector is installed on a pedestal that sits in a gallery space. It projects a coloured moving image to the white wall. In a film, a person reads a book outside a house.

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Large-sized braille is installed on a white wall between CAG’s lobby to one of its gallery spaces. The braille is placed around the height where adults’ hands will be when they stand.

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A text-based artwork is printed on a gallery wall. It reads, “the whole world + the work = the whole world” in black letters. A collection of blue and white paper is placed on the floor near the sign.

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7 times 5 stacks of brochures are placed on the grey gallery floor. The brochures are made of newsprint paper. Repetition of both their shape and blue and white cover image resembles water waves. 

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This is an installation shot of a group exhibition titled Concrete Language. Stacks of brochures are placed on the gallery floor. On a wall behind brochures, a text-based artwork is printed. 

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This is an installation shot of a group exhibition titled Concrete Language. A large-sized photograph is mounted on a wall. On the floor, two round-shaped black sculptures are placed. 

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In a small gallery space, a projector is hanging from the ceiling. It projects a slide to the wall. The phrase that appears in the image reads, “ready to hit the road,” in upper letters.

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In CAG’s lobby, a URL is printed on the grey steel beam that is attached to the wall. The URL is http://www.usask.ca/nativelaw/ddir.html and it appears in yellow letters. 

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A single-channel video work is projected on one of the gallery walls. The video shows a close-up of a person’s face. The person has blue eyes and wears a red toque.

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One of the windows on CAG’s facade displays a text-based artwork. It reads, “transportées d’un climat à un autre pour constituer” in upper letters.

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A blue neon sign is mounted on a gallery wall. The sign is a pair of quotation marks with some space left between each other. White tubes are hanging from both ends of the sign.

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Windows on CAG’s facade display text-based artworks. Some of the phrases and words are in French. Those texts are printed on the top part of each window. 

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A circular-shaped large mirror is mounted on a gallery wall. It reflects another circular mirror attached to the facing wall. There is a text printed on another mirror.

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This is an installation shot of a group exhibition titled Concrete Language. A tall and narrow white paper is mounted on the wall beside the gallery entrance. A neon sign is placed on the other wall. 

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Michael Baers, Fiona Banner, Filipa César, Martin Creed, Antonia Hirsch, Denise Oleksijczuk, Ian Grais, Vibeke Tandberg, Ron Terada, Ian Wallace, Lawrence Weiner, Laurel Woodcock, Cerith Wyn Evans, YOUNG-HAE CHANG HEAVY INDUSTRIES, Elizabeth Zvonar

Concrete Language

*PORTRAIT* is the third and final in a series of three publications that uses the petit genres of landscape, still life and portraiture to reflect programming at the Contemporary Art Gallery which framed tendencies in contemporary art.


Published by the Contemporary Art Gallery in 2010, this catalogue includes texts by curator Glenn Alteen, film theorist Lisa Coulthard, art historian Gill Perry and cultural theorist Helma Sawatzky as well as a text by CAG curator Jenifer Papararo and an interview with artist Elizabeth Zvonar. The publication includes the CAG exhibitions, *Playing Homage*, Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun: *Neo-Native Drawings and Other Works*, Elizabeth Zvonar: *On Time* and *Face Up*.

#### Other publications from this series:

*LANDSCAPE*

*STILL LIFE*

Purchase all three publications for $25 below.

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petit genres

PORTRAIT

Elizabeth Zvonar
Feelings
2010
Porcelain
Edition of 250, unsigned
Unframed

*Feelings*, a limited edition porcelain sculpture made by Elisabeth Zvonar was produced by the Contemporary Art Gallery for *It’s What You Do With It That Counts*, the 22nd CAG Gala and Art Auction held on November 6, 2010.

Elizabeth Zvonar

Exhibitions

Publications & Editions