Luanne Martineau

*There Are Those* is an attempt to look more deeply at the process of drawing and those reasons to draw. Why are we seeing so much drawing, why are we interested in it and how are artists using it? The medium of drawing holds a particular place in the hierarchy of the arts. It is a method for sketching, a way to solve problems, a mode of research, a part of a larger practice, and a place to begin. Historically, drawing is seen as supplementary more than definitive. It is traditionally distinguished as being made with a pencil, pen, charcoal, marker, or crayon, usually consisting of lines, patterns or shading. Drawings are typically presented in intimate spaces often hung close together to bring in the viewer. *There Are Those* includes a small selection of Vancouver-based artists who use drawing as part of a larger process of working, but who also set it apart for its specificities, using it in a particular way, as a means to slow down their thinking process. All the works in this exhibition are labored, generally overdrawn. They have a slightly obsessive character, either through exhaustive detail, repetitive gestures or the obvious working and reworking of a motif. All the works make reference to historical material, either stylistically or thematically, but all the artists have very different approaches to the process. What brings them together is their reliance on drawing a way to come to terms with their subject matter, as a process for acquiring knowledge.

A graphite drawing of fly-fishing hooks arranged in a grid. Beneath each drawing is handwritten text. 

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Three separation walls are placed inside a gallery. Various drawings are mounted on those walls. Three of those are figurative abstract paintings. There are two black and white human drawings. 

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Ten drawings are mounted on the gallery walls. There is a set of three black and white portraits of people wearing suits. A set of five drawings show dots drawn on white sheets of paper. 

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Six drawings are mounted on the gallery walls. The set of three coloured drawings on the left depicts people sitting inside. The other set of drawings show figures which look like a design of a dorm. 

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Four drawings are mounted on a gallery wall. A set of three coloured drawings depict sculptures made of geometric shapes. There is also a black and white drawing of a child sitting at a table. 

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Kim Kennedy Austin, Luanne Martineau, Shannon Oksanen, Laura Piasta, Ryan Sluggett, Corin Sworn

There Are Those: Drawings by Six Artists

Luanne Martineau joins interests in early twentieth century social realism with mid century modernism to produce works that speak to ongoing biases and entrenched exclusions. She uses turn of the century comic books for their racist depictions of a North American immigrant polyglot as sources for elaborate drawings. Martineau copies select bits from these comic books on tracing paper, building up large palimpsests of marks whose aggregate quality is abstract, but which on close inspection reveals traces of illustrative realism, exaggerated stereotypes and received prejudices. In her exhibition at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Martineau plans a suite of drawings accompanied by a large sculptural installation. Working with outdated manufacturing technologies for fabricating textiles—such as flocking and felting and employing an antiquated knitting machine—Martineau has recently been crafting a series of large, soft sculptures that base comic referents off of high modernist ideals. 


Installation image  of Luanne Martineau’s illustrations. They are inspired by the early 20th-century social realism and mid-century modernism works. Most of the illustrations are black and white and depict some objects that resemble machines. 

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Installation image of Luanne Martineau’s art exhibition. A large soft sculptural installation is on the floor. It is made with brown fabric and has four legs. 12 framed illustrations are mounted on the back wall. 

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Installation image of Luanne Martineau’s art exhibition. A large soft sculptural installation is on the floor. It is made with brown fabric and has four legs. 12 framed illustrations are mounted on the back wall.

Luanne Martineau

Exhibitions