Archive
Search
Artspeak,

Artspeak

  • Peter Freitag

    Peter Freitag is a Berlin artist who has studied at Hochschule der Kuenste, Berlin and University of Illinois at Chicago. His work has been shown in Europe, the United States and Toronto including at Clementine Gallery, New York; Galerie Stellwerk, Kassel; and Gallery 44, Toronto.

  • Hadley + Maxwell

    Hadley+Maxwell have been working together since 1997. Recent presentations of their work include the solo exhibitions Improperties, Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, and who can resist a Human? who doesn’t finger lies?, YYZ, Toronto, and the group exhibitions It’s the End of the World as We Know It, La Kunsthalle Mulhouse and The End of Money, Witte de With, Rotterdam.

  • Lee Henderson

    Vancouver author Lee Henderson wrote The Man Game (Viking/Penguin, 2008), The Broken Record Technique (Viking/Penguin, 2002) and his fiction and visual art journalism has been published in numerous journals and magazines. The Man Game has been described as “a portrait of a lost and fanciful city [Vancouver].” The novel is a highly researched, sprawling tale of 19th century frontier-era Vancouver, its inhabitants, wild west politics, racial tension, and a fictional sport known as “the man game.” He is a contributing editor to Border Crossings and Contemporary, and has curated exhibitions in Vancouver and New York. He is the director/curator of Attache Gallery, a portable art gallery that shows emerging artists, and organizes improvised music events.

  • Kristi Malakoff

    Kristi Malakoff is a Vancouver artist who recently graduated from Emily Carr Institute. Her work has been shown at the Centre on Contemporary Art, Seattle; Kamloops Art Gallery; and the Butchershop, Vancouver.

  • Sarah Massecar

    Sarah Massecar is a Toronto artist. A recent graduate from the University of Victoria (MFA), her work has been shown across Canada and in the United States at Forest City Gallery, London ON; Western Front, Vancouver; and Soil Art Gallery, Seattle.

  • Rachelle Sawatsky

    Rachelle Sawatsky lives and works in Los Angeles, where she recently received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Western Front, Vancouver and Or Gallery, Berlin; in the 2012 Wight Biennial, Los Angeles; and in group exhibitions at 2nd Cannons, Los Angeles, Equinox Gallery, Vancouver and Galerie Mezzanin, Vienna. Sawatsky’s writing has appeared in The Happy HypocriteArt Papers and C Magazine.

  • Melanie O’Brian

    Director/Curator of Artspeak 2004–2010.

Exhibitions

Heyday

PETER FREITAG, KRISTI MALAKOFF, SARAH MASSECAR
April 1–May 6, 2006

Pulling apart ready-made objects, images and modes of production, the artists in Heyday reveal through deconstruction. Using the methods of decoupage and assemblage, the works in the exhibition share concerns regarding manufacture, currency and coining new languages. Peter Freitag works with extant imagery from European resort brochures. Removing all props from the images, Freitag creates populated vignettes in which the staging of a hotel room or the contrived position of a model are eerily foregrounded. Kristi Malakoff creates exquisitely delicate scenes from paper money. For example, she has reconfigured an idyllic three-dimensional cabin from a $100 bill and created a bird series from $2, $5, $10 and $20 bills. Malakoff’s detailed miniatures shift the currency of money, highlighting the idealized images sanctioned to describe nationhood and history. Sarah Massecar deconstructs and reassembles objects, focusing on the labour in re/making. Massecar has investigated the de/reconstruction of a wallet as well as texts that centre on themes of labour and DIY such as Flaubert’s Bouvard et Pecuchet. The dismantling carried out by these three artists potentially reflects the dismantling of a once-thriving capitalist society. After a heyday or period of greatest success or power there is an inevitable decline. Through their processual and conceptual operations, Freitag, Malakoff and Massecar question the present moment and capital’s shifting role.

Postscript 20: Lee Henderson on Heyday (PDF)

Talks & Events

  • Canadian Art Gallery Hop

    HADLEY + MAXWELL, RACHEL SAWATSKY, PETER FREITAG, KRISTI MALAKOFF, SARAH MASSECAR
    April 21–April 22, 2006

    Canadian Art Gallery Hop: Hosted by the Canadian Art Foundation and sponsored by the Consul General of the United States.

    Friday, April 21st, 2006

    Join fellow art lovers and scenemakers at the annual Gallery Hop kickoff in an original environment created by artists Hadley + Maxwell. “Art and Language” is this year’s theme and ticket sales benefit Artspeak, one of Vancouver’s most influential artist-run centres as it celebrates its 20th anniversary.

    Saturday, April 22nd, 2006: Free Gallery Talks

    Spend the afternoon sampling some of Vancouver’s best galleries. Canadian Art will have the experts on hand across the city to introduce the work on view. Pick up your Hop schedule and map in the Saturday, April 22, edition of the Globe and Mail. Free admission.

    Please join us at Artspeak for the first of the free gallery talks at 1:30 pm. Rachel Sawatsky explores the politics of self-regulation and pleasure in the works of Peter Freitag, Kristi Malakoff, and Sarah Massecar.

  • Artist Talk

    PETER FREITAG
    April 1, 2006

    Artspeak is pleased to present Peter Freitag’s artist talk discussing Heyday; a group exhibition featuring the work of Freitag, Krist Malakoff and Sarah Massecar. Heyday runs from April 1st to May 6th, 2006 at Artspeak.