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GAZE at Ayden Gallery confronts the male-dominated culture of visual arts
We’ve been transcendent, holy, and virginal. We’ve been shocking, seductive, and surreal. But always, we have been the art subject - only rarely the creators of our own depiction.”
Yellow Wallpaper by Pandora Young in GAZE at Ayden Gallery in International Village
Nestled on the second floor, of the International Village Mall in Chinatown, is the Ayden Gallery – a contemporary fine art gallery which exhibits work of both established and emerging artists.
The space showcases different mediums, from paintings and illustration, to sculpture and fashion/jewelry designers.
Eclectic pieces for the mind, while not letting one leave the space without muttering a least once, “I need that piece in my life”. In short, it has provided a much needed space for artists in the city whose voice is not always represented.
Their current exhibition, GAZE: Figurative Work and Portraiture by Female Artists, curated by Genevieve Michaels, will be the last show for the International Village Mall location, while manager, Ken Lum looks for other spaces within the city, and also for different opportunities.
GAZE aims to confront the male-dominated culture of visual art, as Michaels explains, “The female body is the most painted, sculpted, sketched, posed, obsessed over, fetishized, and analyzed to death subject in the history of art.
We’ve been transcendent, holy, and virginal. We’ve been shocking, seductive, and surreal. But always, we have been the art subject - only rarely the creators of our own depiction.”
Rachael Stableford
Featuring Rachael Stableford, Pandora Young, Jane Q Cheng, Tina Yan, Angela Owre, Chelsea O’Byrne, Minjoo Kim, Christel Chan, Linn C Wold, Sabrina Elliott, and Jordan Westre, this group show will include detailed realist and surrealist painting, drawing, digital art and collage.
All artists are local, excepting Sabrina Elliott from Portland, Oregon and Linn C Wold from Norway.
The show explores what the visual landscape might look like dominated by a female perspective. Through the painting and illustration, and collage represented in the show one thing is certain: the landscape is colourful, creating a sense of community and most certainly a conversation over how different the female and male gaze are from each other.
There is still time to get to Ayden Gallery and take in GAZE and the secondary show, Ideas of Breath curated by Latent Image magazine, featuring 35 pieces from internally and Vancouver published artists, primarily showcasing photography, but also representing mixed media and fibre art.
The precipice behind the show was what happens when you pull a theme apart, rather than construct one: letting the stream of consciousness take control.
Both exhibits run until January 31st.
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