The Long Time: 21st Century Art of Steele + Tomczak
Lisa Steele + Kim Tomczak
A Space Main Gallery
November 8 – December 14, 2013
Curated by: Paul Wong
Panel discussion: Sunday November 10th at 3pm with Lisa Steele, Kim Tomczak, Paul Wong, Jennifer Fisher, Jim Drobnick, Vicky Moufawad-Paul.
Gallery open before panel discussion 1-3pm on Sunday.
Last day to see the exhibition is Saturday Dec 14 from noon - 5pm. Don't miss it!
A Space Gallery is pleased to present The Long Time, a major exhibition of 21st century art by Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak in photography, video and installation. The exhibition includes …bump in the night, The Miniatures, Speak City and the Toronto premiere of …before I wake, the trilogy that has been in progress since 2000. The final segment Entranced (2012) has been commissioned by On Main and completes this epic journey to the other side.
This exhibition curated by Paul Wong features the work of long-time collaborators Steele + Tomczak who have produced an extraordinary body of work investigating aspects of the self for over 30 years. Central to the exhibition is the long awaited …before I wake trilogy. This multi- screen installation brings together the three video components We’re Getting Younger All The Time, Practicing Death and Entranced. This monumental love story searches for the fountain of youth, surrenders to the idea of eternal sleep and crosses the threshold of the hereafter. It is poignant, chilling and deeply personal.
The 88-page full-colour book includes essays by Felix Vogel (Berlin), Jim Drobnick and Jennifer Fisher (Toronto), Michael Turner and Paul Wong (Vancouver). Published by On Main, edited by Paul Wong (ISBN: 978-0-9694777-5-4).
This national touring exhibition is produced by onmaingallery.com. The exhibition opened in Vancouver in Sept. 2012. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, Rick Erickson.
Biographies
Lisa Steele + Kim Tomczak have worked exclusively in collaboration since 1983, producing videotapes, sculptural installations, public artworks, performances and photo/text works. They have received numerous grants and awards including the Bell Canada prize for excellence in Video Art, a Toronto Arts Award and, in 2005, a Governor General’s Award for lifetime achievement in Visual & Media Arts. They were also awarded with an Honorary Doctorate from the University of British Columbia (Okanagan) in 2009. They are co-founders of Vtape and teach at the University of Toronto. Major public art commissions include Love Squared (2006), screened on the video board at Yonge & Dundas, and Watertable (2009), a light and sound installation that marks the original shoreline of Lake Ontario at the foot of historic Fort York. Since 2010, their work has been included in exhibitions at MOCCA Toronto (Empire of Dreams: phenomenology of the built environment), EXIS: Experimental Film and Video Festival in Seoul, Korea, Wharf Centre d’art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie, and the prestigious La Mois de la Photo a Montreal. The Long Time, a major survey of their 21st Century work, debuted in Vancouver in 2012 and is touring nationally from 2013-2015. Their work is included in more than 30 Canadian, American and European museum permanent collections. Their video work is represented by Vtape. www.vtape.org www.steeleandtomczak.com
Paul Wong has had extensive international exhibitions including at the 2003 Venice Biennale and the Museum of Modern Art (New York). In 1995, he had a solo exhibition at the National Gallery of Canada. Paul Wong received the Bell Canada Award in Video Art in 1992 and the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2005.