LIGHT IT UP! IS AN EXHIBITION OF LIGHT BASED ARTWORKS OF 6 ARTISTS FROM VANCOUVER, THE YUKON AND GERMANY

The artworks in Light It Up! are relatively small discrete views into illuminated worlds that investigate cultural references and experiences of natural phenomena. For example, Trevor Van den Eijnden’s 25cm cube, Lawn, uses surveillance glass to multiply tiny led lit pink flamingos into a gridded suburbia that seems to extend forever. Stuart Ward’s works are reminiscent of stained glass windows that feature a kaleidoscope of individual video views of natural phenomena all writhing independently within the frame. Other works reflect their surroundings while they emit light, cradle fiber optic northern lights between the antlers of an actual caribou head, use the playful quality of glow sticks to draw the viewer through dance steps and spell out ethnic rejection, no luger, in the classic invitation of neon signage.

So often, contemporary light based artworks resurrect 1960s minimalism by re-presenting industrial neon or fluorescent tubes or immersing the viewer in large swaths of ambient light in the gallery space. The artworks of Light It Up!  pare down the modernist gesture and focus, instead, on the intimate illuminated encounter.

This exhibition is funded by the Government of British Columbia and Nature’s Fare through the 3% receipt fund for charitable organizations. So, thank you everyone who has diligently supplied Arnica with your old NF grocery receipts! It has definitely made a difference!