Vancouver Art Gallery acquires hundreds of new artworks
Major works by local and international artists—including Beau Dick, Teresita Fernández, Geoffrey Farmer, and Ron Terada—have been added to the gallery’s permanent collection
Echoes from a Near Future (2022) by Caroline Monnet.
THE VANCOUVER ART GALLERY is expanding its permanent collection with 349 new acquisitions through purchases and donations, expanding its collection of more than 13,000 works by local and international artists. The works will be housed in the gallery’s new building on a planned floor dedicated to presenting the permanent collection.
Acquisitions include a charcoal installation by New York-based artist Teresita Fernández; “Undersea Kingdom”, a suite of 17 masks by renowned late Kwakwaka'wakw carver and activist Beau Dick; an epic text-based installation by Vancouver-based artist Ron Terada; and an installation of functional water works by Canadian artist Geoffrey Farmer. Several pieces by contemporary artists Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Elizabeth McIntosh, Paul Wong, and Caroline Monnet have also been acquired.
Rupert Lanes (after Wall) (2019) by Deanna Bowen.
There are plans to showcase some of the works in the public spaces of the gallery’s new building, including a major outdoor installation by internationally recognized artist Geoffrey Farmer. The installation, called Fountain, contains several components—including Wounded Man, Duvet, Drinking Fountain, and 70 Planks, all of which were added to the collection as gifts. In its original design, Fountain (2017–21) was an immersive environment filled with working water fountains and sculptures created for the artist’s solo presentation at the Venice Biennale in 2017.
Major acquisitions by Vancouver-based artists include Elizabeth McIntosh’s new painting Work Out (2023) and Ron Terada’s installation TL; DR, (2020–22). Standing for “too long; didn’t read”, Terada’s series of 325 text-based paintings aims to archive fleeting click-bait headlines.
Island Universe 2 (2023, detail) by Teresita Fernández.
Designed to broaden its holdings of work by major international artists, the gallery has also acquired Island Universe 2 (2023) by American conceptual artist Teresita Fernández. It is composed of sculpted pieces of charcoal arranged to resemble a map that combines all of the earth’s land masses, fusing them into one borderless, continuous terrain. Fernández’s large-scale installation speaks to themes of land, migration, power, and colonialism.
Also acquired is Rupert Lanes (after Wall) (2019), the first work by Montreal-based interdisciplinary artist Deanna Bowen to become part of the gallery’s collection. Designed as a picture within a picture, Bowen’s photograph contrasts two views of an East Vancouver neighbourhood in which the artist grew up during the 1970s and ’80s.
Echoes from a Near Future (2022) by Caroline Monnet, a large-scale colour photograph recently exhibited at the gallery in Fashion Fictions, has also been added to the collection. Pulling from Monnet’s knowledge of Indigenous textiles and design, the photo presents three generations of women and girls wearing brightly coloured regalia created from unconventional materials used in the construction industry.
Ron Terada’s installation TL; DR.
Many recent acquisitions are currently on view as part of the gallery’s summer exhibition, Black and White and Everything In Between: A Monochrome Journey. They include Mina Totino’s oil paintings September (2019) and October (2019); Shannon Bool’s epic tapestry, Crimes of the Future (2020); and Wang Tiande’s detailed ink painting, Visiting the Temple in Lu Mountain 麓山问寺图 (2021). Also in the exhibition is the never-before-exhibited series Chinese Cafes—The Five Energies (1997) by Vancouver-based artist Paul Wong. Inspired by the Taoist system of the “five energies” and their corresponding colours, Wong’s print series was received as part of a major donation of 63 works by 16 artists gifted by Rick Erickson and Donna Partridge in 2023. Wong’s earliest neon work, Windows 97 (1997), also joined the collection. Consisting of large-scale portraits of Chairman Mao Zedong and Queen Elizabeth II, and animated neon pieces representing the flags of China, Hong Kong, and the U.K., the work was created in 1997 in the months leading up to the handover of Hong Kong.
Currently only a small portion of the 13,000 works at the VAG can be viewed by the public at any given time. The gallery’s new purpose-built home will offer expanded exhibition space. 
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