Renée Van Halm: Cross-Cutting/Inside Out
February 10 – April 8, 2012
Reception: February 9, 2012 7 pm
The Burnaby Art Gallery is pleased to present the first survey exhibition
of Renée Van Halm’s work. Focusing primarily on Van Halm’s works on
paper, the exhibition explores in detail the artist’s interest in the role
architecture plays in shaping our physical and social interactions. With this
as an underlying theme, Cross-Cutting/Inside Out surveys over thirty years
of work by a recognized Canadian painter.
Renée Van Halm’s diverse practice includes the medium of collage,
installation, printmaking, gouache, oil and acrylic paints. In alignment
with the Burnaby Art Gallery’s commitment to exhibiting works on paper,
Cross-Cutting/Inside Out reviews works on paper by Van Halm, dating
from 1979 to the present. While this is a chronological survey of Van
Halm’s practice, the works selected for the exhibition focus primarily on
the artist’s interest in the social role of architecture. References to iconic
design elements and modernist architectural language are layered and
obfuscated through painterly abstraction and figuration, creating works
that are enticing and challenging. Three-dimensional installation pieces
are also included to give presence to Van Halm’s interest in the materiality
of architecture, illustrating how the viewer brings his/her own subjectivity
to experiencing architecture.