(Da bao)(Takeout)

Artists: Sara Angelucci and Han Xu, John Armstrong and Paul Collins, Cathy Busby, Gang Chen, Brendan Fernandes, Nan Hao, Ming Hon, Knowles Eddy Knowles, Laiwan, Minjeong Oh, Ed Pien, Shen Yi Elsie, Laurens Tan, Xiaojing Yan, Zhang Zhaohui

Varley Art Gallery of Markham (2012) and circulated to the Art Gallery of Mississauga, PlugIn ICA in Winnipeg, and Surrey Art Gallery (2012–2014)

(Da bao)(Takeout) attempts to locate a type of pan-ocean dynamic between China and the West, specifically Canada, by focusing on artists who investigate, adapt and instill ideas from abroad into their practice, while appreciating the palpable slippages that occur in the transference of ideas from one ethnicity to another. An exhibition of international scope, (Da bao)(Takeout) brings together the work of 19 artists, largely from China and Canada. Two curators, living on either side of the globe, worked together to push beyond the traditional “exchange” format to create an exhibition that functions as a cohesive whole. It focuses on the artists’ shared experiences of being “taken out” of familiar contexts and encountering a strikingly different culture. Their individual experiences and the ways in which they discover areas of shared experience inform the work included in this exhibition. While their individual voices each occupy unique positions, collectively, they speak to issues of cultural transference, highlighting the gaps, distances and misunderstandings inherent in communication across cultural divides.

Publication: Catalogue, available through the Varley Art Gallery