Flow: From the Movement of People to the Circulation of Information

Our world is marked by the ever-increasing movement of peoples, products, and ideas over vast distances and at rapid speeds. These movements and transmissions dictate the limits of life, the energetic potential of nature, the dynamics of economies, and the transformative potential of society and individuals.

Drawing from Surrey Art Gallery’s permanent collection, the over two dozen artworks presented in this exhibition address numerous themes, including transnational migration, the exchange of information and data, the force of waterways and weather systems, the physical movement of human bodies, and the transportation of materials and products to market by rail or by foot.

Some works, like Val Nelson’s painting Rush Hour 2 (2014), draw attention to the flow of people in our cities. In particular, Nelson’s work examines the relationship between the congestion of our roadways with our culture’s enthusiasm for grand detached homes and single-occupancy vehicles. Delving more into the movement of goods, Sara Graham’s Thornton Railyard, Surrey #4 (2015) uses miniature filigreed collage techniques to depict the contours and history of freight movement of one of British Columbia’s largest rail yards.

Soheila Esfahani’s The Immigrants: Homage to F.H. Varley (2015) reimagines a classic image of new immigrants arriving in Canada as seen in Varley’s c.1922 painting with found blue and white porcelain plates and custom ceramics printed with imagery chosen by the artist’s family, friends, and colleagues. Brendan Lee Satish Tang’s brightly coloured clay vessel Manga Ormolu Version 4.1-a (2009) combines stylistic elements from Ming Dynasty era ceramics with techno-pop robotic elements reminiscent of Japanese anime, manga, toys, and video games. Out of Tang’s vessel gushes a black ectoplasm-like pumice meant to evoke both nineteenth-century spiritualism and twentieth-century science fiction. Liquid flow of another sort is seen in Edward Burtynsky’s large-scale photographs showing shiny steel liquid natural gas pipelines zig-zagging across northern British Columbian landscapes.

The wide variety of images and objects make visible some of the most central conflicts and issues of our time, while revealing the beauty, wonder, and ingenuity of human and natural worlds.

Artists: Sean Alward, Mary Frances Batut, Edward Burtynsky, Soheila Esfahani, Monique Fouquet, Sara Graham, Antonia Hirsch, Brian Howell, Ian Johnston, Myron Jones, Laura Wee Láy Láq, M. Simon Levin, Vicky Marshall, Val Nelson, Philippe Raphanel, Helma Sawatzky, Hari Sharma, Haris Sheikh, Meera Margaret Singh, Reva Stone, Brendan Tang, Jer Thorp, Paul Wong

Curator: Jordan Strom
Origin of Exhibition: Surrey Art Gallery

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