Dutch treat: Rembrandt and his fellow Dutch masters move into the VAG for the summer.

Credit: supplied

ARTS: Dutch masters meet art’s next stars

Being a young city in a relatively young country, Vancouver tends to suffer a lack of historical context when it comes to its art scene. A recent article in Seattle’s The Stranger lauded Vancouver for its standing on the international contemporary-art stage and its ability to foster world-class talent, which had a few self-satisfied hangers-on justifiably crowing. But until relatively recently, hunting down a B.E.C. (Before Emily Carr) artwork in this town was something of a fool’s errand.

Luckily for art lovers of all stripes, this week combines art history and art future with two exhibitions that could not be more different in nature, style, and tone.

The first of these is something of a coup for the Vancouver Art Gallery and its director, Kathleen Bartels, as it hosts Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum. The largest collection of 17th-century Dutch art ever brought to Canada, the exhibit features 128 works and, according to Bartels, “represents a landmark achievement” for the VAG. The collection includes important works from the titular painters as well as lesser-known luminaries of the era, including Aelbert Cuyp, Jan Steen, and the oft-overlooked female artist, Rachel Ruysch.

While the importance of the exhibition from both artistic and diplomatic points of view is undeniable (members of the Dutch royal family will help open the exhibit with a private reception and dinner on site), the historical context of the paintings themselves are of particular relevance to our ultra-modern glass-and-steel city. Dutch Calvinists of the period looked askance at devotional art of any kind, and the rising merchant class desperately sought out the cachet of artistic representation that was once available only to the aristocracy. The result was the flourishing of secular art, with its depictions of everyday people in banal surroundings. Chocolate meets peanut butter and voilà!: the consumer-driven art market is born.

From the more sedate past to the frenzied future, Emily Carr University’s annual Graduate and Undergraduate Exhibitions highlight the work of young artists who may one day find a place of their own in the art world. Always a jumbled jamboree of colour, sight and sound, this year’s event promises to be nothing less than the glorious hodgepodge of unbridled talent we’ve come to love and admire. And while most of the fun stems from navigating the diverse works — from the sublime to the sincerely baffling — a little guidance might also be welcome. Here, in no particular order, are some of the more interesting, arresting and, well, artistic exhibits on display.

PHOTOGRAPHY
Krista Jahnke: Same Soup, Different Flavour
An homage to the 100th anniversary of the brand, this Warhol-esque montage is of 100 pairs of personalized Converse Chuck Taylor runners in all styles and colours, fresh off the feet of “Chuck” enthusiasts.

Jason Edwards: Andreas and Colour
Images from one of only three giant Polaroid Instamatic cameras in the world. The work is especially poignant since production on Instamatic cameras and film was halted last year.

PAINTING
Brenda Draney: Watermarks
M.F.A. candidate investigates memory with a series of seemingly unfinished canvases that evoke her hazy memories of childhood events.

SCULPTURE
Benjamin LaRose: BullyWhile not exactly sculpture, it’s not fashion either. LaRose plays with elements of sculpture to create wearable art and performance togs that must be seen in action to be believed.

Jasmin Reimer: Catalyst
Soft upholstered sculpture that investigates the nature of the human body and the dynamic fullness of curves and fat.

VIDEO
Geneviève Cloutier: f˘et’˘i-sh˘iz’em
A two-minute video installation questioning gender notions in which the artist, naked and pregnant, searches through the works of “sexist French theorists” for the playfulness of language.

Jin Hong: Who Killed the Goldfish?
This 10-minute short explores the shifting power dynamic in an immigrant Korean family where the children speak English and their mother cannot.

INSTALLATION
Tobias Ottahal & Jeff Werner: Nicefit
A table and everyday breakfast objects become metaphors for the beauty of compartmentalization in this fun, interactive investigation of the “right place” for things.

Vermeer, Rembrandt and the Golden Age of Dutch Art: Masterpieces from the Rijksmuseum runs May 10-Sept. 13 at the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby, VanArtGallery.ca). The Undergraduate and Graduate Exhibitions continue to May 10 and May 17, respectively, at Emily Carr University (1399 Johnston, ECUAD.ca).