Geoffrey Farmer

The Contemporary Art Gallery has worked with Vancouver artist Gareth Moore to co-commission a project comprising seven new films and a series of related posters.

For *Children’s Films*, Moore approached a number of international artists to produce short films for children, each person free to focus on any particular topic, shaping the content and form of their respective piece. Artists invited consist of some from Europe as well as other Vancouver based practitioners familiar to our local audiences. Moore then collated the two to five minute pieces into one longer work, providing it with open and closing credits, each section acting as a discrete but interconnected episode. One point of reference for this project alongside the artist’s own fascination with the formats of popular children’s television is *Children’s Tapes* (1974) by American artist Terry Fox.

By focusing on children, Moore seeks to engage visitors in a very different way to the conventional gallery goer, purposely taking work out into the city and challenging perceived conventions of whom the audience might be and where art may be apprehended. Distinctions are blurred between exhibition display and more usual educational activities. Furthermore his resort to a collaborative method of production questions the role of the artist as singular author, a more generous and outgoing approach that chimes with the underlying ethos of the gallery.

The exhibition format developed for *Children’s Films* deliberately moved between children’s cinema, pedagogical film and wandering circus. Akin to the early days of cinema with travelling magic lantern shows, weekly screenings of the 16mm films will take place in different locations throughout the city of Vancouver such as community centres, schools and a tent in open parkland, places including the Roundhouse, Trout Lake, Emery Barnes Park and the Moberly Arts and Cultural Centre amongst others. The place and time will be announced via posters in our windows as well those fly-posted throughout Vancouver, in addition to the internet via the project’s own website and that of the gallery.

With an audience comprising exclusively children — adults are only allowed if essential to accompany a child — Moore subverts, with charm and characteristic humour, not just the usual form of communication and presentation of exhibitions in an institution but also the notional audience itself. He debunks the idea that museums and galleries are merely places for adults, bypassing the conventional mediation with which children engage in contemporary art and involving them on their own terms while investing the work with a clear and significant social dynamic.

Moore’s work has long conflated performance, documentation, installation, and sculpture, as well as everyday activities normally considered peripheral to contemporary visual art, projects often involving communities external to the typical sphere of interest. As such this newly commissioned body of work is consistent with his broader practice: notional spaces and groups outside of the usual art audience become the key ingredient and participant.

*Children’s Films* highlights Moore’s enduring interests in ideas around museology, display, social engagement, and economic exchange. By using materials collected from his previous travels to create new objects that he will take with him on future journeys — or in this case the network of shared ideas within his broader artistic community and friendships — Moore’s inventions create a continuously evolving story of his pilgrimage where past narratives can be manipulated and transformed into new tales of exploration and ingenuity.

This expanded version of Children’s Films is presented by the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. The project is commissioned with Bielefelder Kunstverein, Germany; IPS, Birmingham and the Whitstable Biennale. Venues in collaboration with Roundhouse Community Arts and Recreation Centre.

The exhibition was generously supported by The Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts.

### Biography

Gareth Moore was born in Matsqui, British Columbia. He currently lives and works in Kassel, Germany. Solo exhibitions include *Children’s Films*, Bielefelder Kunstverein (2011); *Passengers 1.9: Gareth Moore*, CCA Wattis Institute of Contemporary Art, San Francisco (2008); *As a Wild Boar Passes Water*, Witte de With, Rotterdam (2008). He has also participated in the group exhibitions: *Elements of Chance*, La Biennale de Montréal (2011); *It Is What It Is*, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2010); *Right Right Now Now*, Arthur BoskampStiung M.1, Hohenlockstedt, Germany (2010); *The Chained Lady, the Microscope and the Southern Fish*, SOFA Gallery, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand (2010); *Nothing to Declare*, The Power Plant, Toronto (2009); *Every Version Belongs to the Myth*, Project Arts Centre, Dublin (2009). Currently he is exhibiting in dOCUMENTA (13), Kassel, Germany and has been nominated for the Sobey Art Award 2012. Moore is represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver.


ProgramGuideFall2012.pdf

A child, wearing a mask and dipping a brush into an ink bottle, sits in front of an open book with photos of statues. A print hangs on the wall in the background. The entire image has a magenta hue.

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A group of young children sit in a darkened room in front of a screen watching a projected video. The video depicts a shadow puppet-like, human figure tip-toeing across the screen carrying a large sack.

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Primary school age children sit on the floor in a gym and watch a video screening. On the screen, a boy wearing a black mask is dipping a brush into ink with a thick photo book in front of him.

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Image still from a video. A black cat sits in the middle of a window frame, its back facing the camera. Black text across the image reads, “Meow,” just to the right of the cat.

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Image still from a video of shadow puppets. A figure of a man stands before a wild boar in a forest, their arm raised as if in conversation with the boar.

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Presented by Gareth Moore with Ulla Von Brandenburg, Keren Cytter, Geoffrey Farmer, Julia Feyrer, Harrell Fletcher, Mike Marshall, and Sylvain Sailly

Children's Films

This group exhibition gathers works by six Canadian artists who bring abstraction to the edge of representation. Eli Bornowsky (Vancouver), Eli Langer (Los Angeles), Kika Thorne (Victoria/Toronto), Holly Ward (Vancouver), Geoffrey Farmer (Vancouver), and Derek Sullivan (Toronto) all question the use of abstraction through their own formal explorations. Many of the works directly reference and represent Modernist paradigms. In some ways the works are like caricatures of Modernism, simplifying and exaggerating its familiar and canonized aesthetic concerns. Vivid colours, bold forms, elaborate compositions become tangible objects that relate to intangible ideas, materializing abstract ideas through abstract forms. This investigation into form for form's sake is not to set Modernism up as a foil, but is used to bring out the specific qualities of aesthetic exploration, using form as a viable and particular method to communicate specific ideas.

Eli Bornowsky holds a diploma of Visual Communication: Design and Illustration from the Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton (2001), and a BFA in Visual Arts from the Emily Carr Institute in Vancouver (2005). Bornowsky has participated in solo exhibitions, *In Advance of the Coffee Table Book. Or Reterritorialized Deterritorializations of a Stream of Consciousness* at the Helen Pitt in Vancouver (2003) and *Great Drinker and Chandelier* at the Lobby gallery in Vancouver (2006 as well as group shows including *Chamomile Testerosa* at the 1066 Project Space in Toronto (2003), *Dept* at the Other Gallery, Banff Centre in Banff (2005), and most recently *Way Crafty* at Blanket Gallery in Vancouver (2006). Bornowsky has also performed at various sites including untitled sound pieces at Blim in Vancouver (2004, 2005), and collaboratively with the Tokyo Orthodox Noise Choir at Studio 80 in Tokyo, Japan (2001). Bornowsky lives and works in Vancouver and is represented by Blanket Gallery, Vancouver where he has an upcoming solo exhibition.

Eli Langer was born in Montreal in 1967.  Langer has been exhibiting both internationally and within Canada, including solo exhibitions at Daniel Hug in Los Angeles (2006), Paul Petro Contemporary Art in Toronto (2005) and Platform in London, UK (1999). He has also participated in various group exhibitions at the Helen Pitt in Vancouver (2001), Ben Kaufmann in Berlin (2006) and Raster in Warsaw (2006). He currently lives and works in Los Angeles and Canada.

Geoffrey Farmer has exhibited widely holding solo exhibitions at The Power Plant in Toronto (2005), the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver (2003) and the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto (2002).  He has forthcoming exhibitions scheduled at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal in Montréal in 2008, Witte de With in Rotterdam in 2008 and the Drawing Room in London, UK in 2007. Selected group shows include the Museum van Hedendaagse Kunst  in Antwerp, Gasworks in London, Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh, Vancouver Art Gallery, Seoul Museum of Art, Melbourne International Biennial and forthcoming at Tate Modern. Farmer lives and works in Vancouver and is represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery.  He is currently exhibiting Announcements for Art School at the Chelsea Space in London, UK.

Derek Sullivan was born in Richmond Hill, Canada. He received a BFA from York University in 1999, and an MFA from the University of Guelph in 2001. His work has been featured at the 2004 Toronto International Art Fair, as well The Power Plant in Toronto in 2005. His work has also been shown at ARTFirm, Red Gallery, and YYZ in Toronto, as well as exhibitions in Montreal, Vancouver, Shanghai, Berlin and New York. In 2001, Sullivan was the youngest artist awarded a permanent outdoor sculpture commission for the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre’s Sculpture Park at the University of Guelph. He is completing projects for the Art Gallery of York University and Optica in 2007. Sullivan is currently based in Toronto.

Kika Thorne graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design in Media Production and Cultural Theory in 1990. For a decade she has made film and video art which spans the super 8 underground, experimental public access television, and mainstream broadcasting. In the late 90s, Thorne participated in the October and February Group actions against the Ontario Conservative government. She has had solo shows at the Helen Pitt Gallery, Vancouver (2001), Kino Arsenal in Berlin (2003).  Group exhibitions include *A Better Place*, McKenzie Art Gallery (2000); *Substitute City*, The Power Plant (2001); *Zones*, Art Gallery of Hamilton (2003); *25hours*, CCCB, Barcelona (2003); *Metro-Ago-Go*, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto (2004); *Old Habits Die Hard*, Sparwasser, Berlin + touring (2004-6); and *E-Flux Video*, KW, Berlin (2005-7). Based in Toronto, she is completing her MFA at the University of Victoria.

Holly Ward recently received her MFA from the University of Guelph, Ontario. Ward also holds a BA English degree from the University of New Brunswick, and a BFA Interdisciplinary degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design.  Her work has been shown in solo shows across Canada and internationally including the Or Gallery in Vancouver and Oeil Du Poisson in Quebec. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions at the Susan Hobbs Gallery in Toronto, Art & Idea in Mexico City, and the VTO Gallery in London. Recently, Ward’s work was featured in *Until Then Then* at Western Front in Vancouver, as well as *How Soon is Now* at Western University ARTLAB in London, Ontario. She currently lives and works in Vancouver.

Essay: “Gasoline Rainbows,” Jenifer Papararo

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Various artworks are installed in a gallery space. Six large-sized two-dimensional works are mounted on the gallery walls. A thin tall sculpture covered with cutout papers stands on the floor.  

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Three graphic designed works are mounted on the gallery walls. On each white canvas, an abstract shape is drawn with the combinations of various coloured cells.  

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Three large abstract paintings are installed on the gallery walls. Overall, they are white paintings on which some strokes of tinted blue and light purple colours are drawn.  

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A large mirror is installed on the grey wall outside the Belkind Gallery. A wooden sculpture that looks like a stack of children’s toys is placed in front of that mirror. 

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CAG’s window spaces display some installation works. Various white cutout geometric shapes are installed behind the glass. All of those shapes cast shadows on the white background. 

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Black and pink fabric are installed in a gallery space. They both are stretched to make tent-like shape. Black fabric is suspended from four corners of ceilings, and pink fabric is suspended from four corners of the floor.

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Eli Bornowsky, Eli Langer, Kika Thorne, Holly Ward, Geoffrey Farmer, Derek Sullivan

Gasoline Rainbows

The Contemporary Art Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Vancouver based artist Geoffrey Farmer titled *The Blacking Factory*. Farmer's cross-disciplinary practice utilizes a wide variety of materials to investigate the place of art within a social context. Like artists Gabriel Orozco and Thomas Hirschhorn, Farmer's work often intersects and develops in dialogue with a specific location. Most recently, Farmer's work has been the subject of a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario, and he is included in upcoming group exhibitions at Gasworks Gallery, London, UK and at the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, UK. He is represented in Vancouver by the Catriona Jeffries Gallery.

*The Blacking Factory* is comprised of three interrelated works: a sculptural installation in the form of a large truck trailer, a film work depicting the windows of the Contemporary Art Gallery shattering from an explosive concussion and a set prop of a generic newspaper box
installed at the exterior of the Gallery entrance. All three works utilize the technological expertise of the film industry to provoke analogies between mechanisms of display and the artifice behind the creation of meaning and value. The truck trailer is fabricated in mimicry of those used by movie production companies — an increasingly common sight on the streets of Vancouver — and alludes to the transportation of such illusionist necessities as props, lighting systems and costumes. Farmer's film work rehearses a set piece found in a wide spectrum of Hollywood movies — from action-adventure to thriller — and uses the unexpectedness of this violent genre staple within and about the gallery to prompt questions about the context of perception. 

Essay: "Everything Counts," Reid Shier

A metal made newspaper dispenser sits outside of the CAG’s front entrance. This silver coloured machine looks worn and contains a yellowed paper called Daily Times.

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This aerial shot of the installation shows the four walls of the semi truck trailer installed in the gallery space. The trailer is white, and its ceiling is missing. 

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This is a side view of a white semi truck trailer installed in a gallery space. Two beams support the structure where the trailer attaches to a truck.

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This is a video work projected on a screen installed in a darkened gallery. The screen shows the illuminated exterior of the CAG building during the night. 

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This is the installation shot of Geoffrey Farmer’s exhibition at CAG. A large white semi truck trailer is installed in a gallery space. The trailer is placed to face its back to the gallery entrance.

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A metal made newspaper vending machine sits outside of the CAG’s glass entrance. This silver coloured machine looks old. It sells Daily Times.

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This is a close-up view of the sculptural installation by Geoffrey Farmer. A large white semi truck trailer sits in a gallery space. This image shows the front of the trailer.

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The Blacking Factory

The eight artists participating in *Promises* all make work that seems to be somewhere in between one thing and another, presenting a potential of continually becoming something else. For example, Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg's *Fruit Bowls* reside somewhere between sculpture and photography, while Joe Scanlan's work, *Coffer*, is both a practical, functional object and the realization of more formally motivated ideas. Daniel Olson's short performances collected in *Philosophical Moments* puncture the film noir ambience of the video with a kind of quizzical prankishness that underscores the provisional nature of expectations, and experience. The promise of these works is in their potential for just such unexpected outcomes.

On the upper part of the galley wall, seven identical signs are attached in a row. They are black square-shaped signs. A drawing of white brief underwear is printed on each of those black signs.  

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A blue-white coloured neon sign is installed on the wall in a gallery space. The sign shows the exhibition title, PROMISES. 

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This is an installation shot of a group show titled Promises. Several two-dimensional artworks, some framed and some unframed, are mounted on the walls. 

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Several artworks are installed in a gallery space. Five framed black and white photographs are mounted on the left side wall. A wood sculpture is installed in a corner of the room. 

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A photograph depicting an open dishwashing machine is installed on a gallery wall. Below this photograph, a sculpture made of four cylindrical-shaped objects sits on the floor. 

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A large sculpture is installed in a gallery. The sculpture is a sealed large cardboard box placed on a piece of flat wood. Words such as Fragile and Keep Dry are written on the side of the box.

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In a corner of a gallery room, a CRT TV is placed on a wood coffee table. A video work is shown on that TV. A mobile storage cabinet filled with objects is placed next to the TV. 

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This is an installation shot of a gallery space. A set of three photographs are installed on the left wall. Some sculptural installations are placed in the far right corner of the room. 

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James Carl, Geoffrey Farmer, Chris Hanson and Hendrika Sonnenberg, Daniel Olson, Joe Scanla, Jemima Stehli, Ron Terada, Shirley Tse

Promises

This publication, produced in 2003 by the Contemporary Art Gallery, accompanied the exhibition Geoffrey Farmer: *The Blacking Factory* at the Contemporary Art Gallery from June 21 – August 11, 2002. The publication includes essays by Nanaimo based poet and critic Peter Culley and CAG Curator Reid Shier, with an introduction by Christina Ritchie and a letter of apology from Geoffrey Farmer. The book includes two colour posters.

Geoffrey Farmer

Exhibitions

Publications & Editions