Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

SFU Galleries

  • Bruce Stewart, Sorry for Any Inconvenience, 1991, acrylic on canvas.

  • Bruce Stewart, I’m Sold, 1992, acrylic on canvas.

  • Bruce Stewart, Tom’s Taxi, 1990, acrylic on canvas.

  • Bruce Stewart, Snow-bound, 1993, acrylic on canvas.

  • Bruce Stewart: Salad Days in British Columbia, installation view, 2007, SFU Gallery. Photo: SFU LIDC.

Bruce Stewart: Salad Days in British Columbia

January 6 – March 3, 2007
SFU Gallery

Bruce Stewart worked in the medical illustration department at the University of British Columbia for many years, eventually becoming the department head. Since the early 1970s, he has also been creating idiosyncratic paintings that are populated with his family members, friends, and the occasional famous British Columbian. Stewart has recorded key landmarks in B.C.'s psycho-geographical history, from the Rockies to Long Beach, exploring the depths of who we were as a society in the post-war era, while reinterpreting the look of those now mythic, supposedly more innocent times.

Please note that 6 paintings from this exhibition will be on view at the Teck Gallery at the Vancouver campus (515 W. Hastings St.) from March 5 to May 3, 2007.

Curated by Bill Jeffries

Events

Opening Reception
Saturday, January 6, 2007

Panel Discussion: Outsiders on the Inside: the Institutionalization of Outsider Art
Saturday, February 17, 2007, 2pm
SFU Gallery, Burnaby

Are so-called art outsiders actually the closest thing we have to an avant-garde? Are art world insiders gradually becoming dissociated from what's happening at the grassroots level? Who are the outsiders in the digital age? In fact, is the term “outsider” even an effective or workable category for our discussion?

Speakers
Michèle Faguet (Or Gallery) will discuss recent instances of “cultural slumming” by Colombian artists who have appropriated elements from popular cultural practices in order to articulate an aesthetic of precariousness as a form of institutional critique.

Laura MacDonald (Western Front) will examine the work of Bob Flanagan and Sheree Rose and the relation of their outsider status to class and sociological transformations.

Jordan Strom (Fillip) will discuss the renewed fascination with artists and artistic strategies labeled “outsider” within the North American contemporary art market at the turn of the new century.

Bill Jeffries (SFU Gallery Director/Curator) will moderate the panel.

Lunchtime Tours of the Exhibition
Tuesday, January 9, 12:05pm
Wednesday, January 10, 12:35pm
Thursday, January 18, 12:35pm
Friday, January 19, 1:05pm

Print