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  • Randy Lee Cutler

    Whether through performance art, experimental video, photographs, recipes, interventions in gallery windows, or creative/critical writing, Randy Lee Cutler’s practice explores the aesthetics of appetite and embodiment. She has authored numerous essays published in C magazine, Pyramid Power, The Fillip Review, FUSE magazine, Vancouver Art & Economies, Uncanny: Experiments in Cyborg Culture, West Coast LINE, n.paradoxa, Blackflash Magazine, Canadian Art and Yishu Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art on topics as diverse as digestion, truth-telling, orientalism, feminism, photography and social change. Originally from Montreal, she lives in Vancouver where she maintains an experimental relationship with pedagogy, gardening and reading.

  • Divya Mehra

    Mehra is a multimedia artist who holds an MFA from Columbia University (New York), and a BFA (Honours) from the School of Art at the University of Manitoba. Her work has been included in a number of exhibitions and screenings across North America and overseas, including the Queens Museum and Lincoln Center (NY), BRIC Contemporary (Brooklyn), PLATFORM: centre for photographic + digital arts and Plug In ICA (Winnipeg), The Images Festival and A Space (Toronto), Groupe Intervention Vidèo (Montrèal), The Beijing 798 Biennale (Beijing, China), and Gallery OED (Cochin, India). In 2012, Mehra will create new work for the exhibition, Oh Canada commissioned by MASS MoCA . This is her first solo exhibition in Vancouver.

  • 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

  • The Party is Over

    DIVYA MEHRA
    November 26–January 28, 2012

    Divya Mehra, The Party is Over, Street View

    Divya Mehra, I will split up my Father's empire (after N.W.A.),, 2011. Neon sculpture, 45 x 57 x 4 in

    Divya Mehra, The Party is Over, Installation View

    Divya Mehra, Here's to Us (Who wore it best?), 2011. Fake silver watch set to Pakistan Standard Time, 2.25 x 12 cm

    Divya Mehra, Here's to Us (Who wore it best?), 2011. Fake gold watch set to Indian Time, 2.25 x 12 cm

    Divya Mehra, For Bapu (posthumous overture), 2011. Live performance by cellist, mahogany British parlour circa 1890, speakers, dimensions variable

    Divya Mehra, The Pleasure of Hating, 2011. Digital C-Print, 22.5 x 31 cm

    Divya Mehra, They've burst your pretty balloon, 2011. Digital C-Print on cardstock, infinite edition, 5.5 x 5.5 cm

    Divya Mehra, There's just not enough to go around, 2011. White cake with fruit, custard filling and whipped topping, mahogany British parlour table circa 1890, dimensions variable

    Divya Mehra, There's just not enough to go around, 2011. White cake with fruit, custard filling and whipped topping, mahogany British parlour table circa 1890, dimensions variable

    Divya Mehra, Your Turn Next (You've Got the Juice Now), 2011. Off-site aerial advertising, red nylon sailcloth, 60 x 1080 cm

    Divya Mehra, Your Turn Next (You've Got the Juice Now), 2011. Off-site aerial advertising, red nylon sailcloth, 60 x 1080 cm

    Divya Mehra’s practice draws from experiences of displacement, cultural conventions, and hybridization, infusing a biting wit in the execution of her projects. Connecting political and religious icons with popular hip-hop culture, Mehra examines cross-cultural appropriations and the parallels between family tension and nationalistic conflict. Her work investigates the construction and misrepresentation of cultural identity while making reference to layered divisions and the disparity and exploitation of power. Engaging with decay, excess, and failed celebration, Mehra will present an exhibition comprised of new sculptural and photographic work and a performance by a local gospel choir.

    Postscript 44: Joni Low on The Party is Over (PDF)

Talks & Events

Conversation

DIVYA MEHRA, RANDY LEE CUTLER
November 26, 2011

Artspeak is pleased to present a conversation between Divya Mehra (Winnipeg) and Randy Lee Cutler (Vancouver) in conjunction with Mehra’s exhibition, The Party is Over.