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  • Abigail DeVille

    Abigail DeVille (b. 1981, New York) received her MFA from Yale University 2011 and her BFA from the Fashion Institute of Technology in 2007. DeVille has exhibited a growing constellation of site-specific installations in the United States and Europe. Her most recent exhibitions include Bronx Calling at The Bronx Museum of the Arts (2013); Future Generation Art Prize at Venice, The 55th Venice Biennale (2013); XXXXXXX, at Iceberg Projects, Chicago (2013); Fore at The Studio Museum Harlem, New York (2012); Future Generation Art Prize Exhibition at the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev, Ukraine (2012); If I don’t think I’m sinking, look what a hole I’m in, Night Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2012); First Among Equals at the ICA, Philadelphia, PA (2012); The Ungovernables at the New Museum, NY (2012); Bosch Young Talent Show at the Stedelijk Museum, s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (2011). Her work has been written about in New York Magazine, The New York Times, Artforum.com, Time Out New York, CAPITAL, Philadelphia Weekly, Interview, Black Book, Nylon, Art News and Paper Magazine.

  • Kim Nguyen

    A curator and writer based in San Francisco, where she is Curator and Head of Programs at the CCA Wattis Institute. Nguyen was formerly Director/Curator of Artspeak from 2011-2016. Her writing has appeared in exhibition catalogues and periodicals nationally and internationally, with recent texts in catalogues published by Pied-à-Terre (San Francisco), Gluck 50/Mousse (Milan), and the Herning Museum of Art (Denmark). Nguyen is the recipient of the 2015 Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Emerging Curators in Contemporary Canadian Art and the 2016 Joan Lowndes Award from the Canada Council for the Arts for excellence in critical and curatorial writing.

Exhibitions

  • Gastown Follies

    ABIGAIL DEVILLE
    September 14–October 26, 2013

    Abigail DeVille, Gastown Follies, 2013. Alley trash, reclaimed metal, free paint, accumulated debris.

    Abigail DeVille, Gastown Follies, 2013. Alley trash, reclaimed metal, free paint, accumulated debris.

    Abigail DeVille, Gastown Follies, 2013. Alley trash, reclaimed metal, free paint, accumulated debris.

    Abigail DeVille, Gastown Follies, 2013. Alley trash, reclaimed metal, free paint, accumulated debris.

    Abigail DeVille, Gastown Follies, 2013. Alley trash, reclaimed metal, free paint, accumulated debris.

    Abigail DeVille, Gastown Follies, 2013. Alley trash, reclaimed metal, free paint, accumulated debris.

    Abigail Deville’s work is comprised of archaeological constructs imbued with cultural and historical cues, referencing canonical sculptures from recent art history, contemporary social issues, and the movement of solar bodies. Her dark sculptural installations are steeped in destruction and decay, acting as reflections on social and cultural oppression, racial identity, and discrimination within the ruinous decadence of the big city. For her exhibition at Artspeak, DeVille will create a new site-specific installation comprised of materials she scavenges from the streets of Vancouver, particularly in the gallery’s neighbourhood of Gastown in the Downtown Eastside. Her past work has employed a similar strategy of sourcing materials, using cardboard, broken furniture, bottles and other discarded objects. Her complex vortexes generate a dialogue about the socioeconomics of cities and the displacement of its inhabitants, and her exhibition will directly reference the alleyways and streets of Vancouver.

    Postscript 54: Kimberly Phillips on Gastown Follies (PDF)

Talks & Events

Artist Talk

ABIGAIL DEVILLE
September 14, 2013

Artist Abigail DeVille will discuss her exhibition Gastown Follies at Artspeak.