Damian Moppett
Offsite
November 8, 2012–April 1, 2013
Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite
West Georgia Street between
Thurlow and Bute Streets
Vancouver, Canada
Damian Moppett’s artistic practice uses a wide variety of media to question existing notions of mastery, craftsmanship and value. Drawing on broad references from the history of modern art, Moppett uses the mediums of sculpture, painting, photography, drawing and video, often in relationship to each other, as a meditation on the activity of making art.
Images of the artist’s studio appear frequently in Moppett’s work, showing the studio as both a site of experimentation and a theatrical setting for the performative nature of artmaking. Images of Moppett’s studio are visually dense, cluttered with objects, materials and artworks in process, in a working space often dramatically lit. Moppett then turns this documentation into finished paintings or drawings, making the representation of the process of creation the subject of his work.
Building on the sense of theatricality inherent in these works, Moppett’s project for Offsite represents the studio as a kind of stage set. Starting with his artwork Large Painting and Caryatid Maquette in Studio at Night (2008), Moppett transforms the painting into a three-dimensional space, taking shapes from the painting and reproducing them as large-scale cut-outs in metal. Painted with bold colours, the shapes are propped up in the outdoor space as if from a pop-up book. Moppett’s project turns a reproduction of the artist’s studio into a sculptural artwork, one that viewers can experience at a larger-than-life size.
Offsite: Damian Moppett is the latest public art installation by a local or international artist at this site in the heart of the city of Vancouver. Offsite, the Vancouver Art Gallery’s outdoor exhibition space, is dedicated to newly commissioned public art projects and brings innovative contemporary art to a broad audience.
Damian Moppett received his MFA from Concordia University in 1995 and his BFA from Emily Carr College of Art + Design in 1992. He has exhibited in Canada and internationally, including solo exhibitions at the Rennie Collection, Vancouver; Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver; Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa; and Temple Gallery, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia; as well as group exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; Witte de With, Rotterdam; Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal; White Columns, New York; the Power Plant, Toronto; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; and the Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland. He is represented by Catriona Jeffries Gallery, Vancouver. Born in Calgary, Moppett lives and works in Vancouver.
Offsite: Damian Moppett is organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery and curated by Kathleen Ritter, Associate Curator. The project is funded by the City of Vancouver through the Public Art Program. The Gallery recognizes Ian Gillespie, President, Westbank; Ben Yeung, President, Peterson Investment Group; and the residents at Shangri-La for their support of this space. Offsite is generously supported by our Visionary Partner, Michael O’Brian Family Foundation.
For more information, please contact: Carolyn Jack, Communications Manager, cjack [at] vanartgallery.bc.ca.
*Image above:
Damian Moppett, Large Painting and Caryatid Maquette in Studio at Night (Sculpture Version), 2012. Aluminum, paint, 5.33 x 13.6 x 9.15 metres. Site-specific installation at Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite, November 8, 2012 to April 1, 2013. Photo: Rachel Topham, Vancouver Art Gallery.
