(detail) 山水 Mountain Water, 36″ x 60″, oil on canvas, 2016
What: Rick Leong, Artist in residence
Where: Studio 111 (RCA, downtown Kelowna)
When: November 7 to 12, 2016
For one week Rick Leong will inhabit Studio 111, during which time the public is invited to visit, discuss and explore ideas relating to Rick’s work and the development of a future exhibition to be held in Victoria, BC that explore the influence of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria’s Asian Art collection across Rick’s practice. As a working space, Studio 111 facilitates a concentrated period of time for Rick and curator Toby Lawrence to collaborate on and experiment with ideas in a public forum. This open studio/residency model introduces Rick’s praxis to Kelowna and enables the curatorial process to be dialogical–extending exhibition development as, and beyond, a conversation between artists and curator.
As visitors of this territory, we honour and acknowledge the traditional lands of the Syilx peoples on which the activities of Experimental Production of an Idea take place.
Rick Leong is a Victoria-based artist of third generation Chinese Canadian and European ancestry. Drawn from observation and influenced by historical Chinese art forms, Rick’s work investigates the interconnectedness of the land and is rooted in a bilingual vocabulary and style. Rick obtained his MFA from Concordia University (Montreal, 2007), and his thesis work was acquired by the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. In 2008, he was a finalist in the Royal Bank of Canada’s Painting Competition, touring to the National Gallery of Canada, the Power Plant (Toronto) and the Contemporary Art Gallery (Vancouver). In addition to having participated in many group exhibitions at various Canadian and international spaces, Rick has exhibited solo at Two Rivers Gallery (Prince George), Anna Leonowens Gallery (Halifax), the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, and the McClure Gallery (Montreal).
Toby Lawrence is a curator, writer and researcher of mixed Canadian European ancestry based between Kelowna and Gabriola Island, on the traditional lands of the Syilx and Snuneymuxw peoples. Her curatorial work draws from feminist pedagogies and explores collective methods and models founded in dialogue. Recent exhibitions include the multi-site, collaborative performance and video installation Speaking Outside (2016); In Another Place, And Here (2015), co-curated with Michelle Jacques, exploring geographic relationships through international photo-based practices; Carlos Colín’s Definciones (Definitions) (2015); Dana Claxton’s Indian Candy (2014); and Conversations with Lucie Rie (2014). Toby has held curatorial and programming positions with the Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Nanaimo Art Gallery and the University of Victoria Legacy Art Galleries. She obtained a MA in Art History & Theory from UBC in Vancouver and is currently working toward a PhD in the Faculty of Creative & Critical Studies at UBC Okanagan.