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The Vancouver Art Gallery has expanded its collection with 349 new works, bringing its total to over 13,000 pieces. This growth reflects the gallery’s commitment to diversifying its holdings, with plans for a dedicated floor in its new building to showcase its permanent collection.
Notable additions include a charcoal installation by Teresita Fernández, masks by Kwakwaka’wakw artist and activist Beau Dick, and a text-based installation by local artist Ron Terada. Geoffrey Farmer’s Fountain and works by Gabrielle L’Hirondelle Hill, Elizabeth McIntosh, Paul Wong, and Caroline Monnet are also among the acquisitions.
“The gallery is pleased to add such a breadth of remarkable works to its collection due to support from Canadian and international donors in 2023 and 2024,” says Anthony Kiendl, CEO and executive director of the Vancouver Art Gallery, in a release. “The depth and diversity of these new acquisitions enhance the collection and represent an exciting step forward for the Vancouver Art Gallery to better tell the stories of art from British Columbia and beyond. Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of a number of individuals, these works will be available to the people of Vancouver and our city’s visitors from around the world, now and into the future.”
Dick’s acclaimed Undersea Kingdom and Terada’s TL; DR, a series critiquing the digital age’s information overload, are exciting highlights. Some works are already displayed in the gallery’s summer exhibition, Black and White and Everything In Between.
“The gallery’s curators have been working diligently to expand and diversify the gallery’s collection, a collection that is committed to supporting our mission and reflecting our shared artistic culture,” says Eva Respini, deputy director and director of curatorial programs, in the same release. “These acquisitions have been made with an eye to the future—where visitors will have more space and a bigger building to delve into our expanding collection of local, national and international artworks.”