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With Walking Into the Vanishing
Point, the AGW continues its investigation into
conceptual art and photography that began two years
ago with the exhibition Passing Through: Iain Baxter
Photographs 1958 to 1983, which is currently touring
across Canada. Since the late 1960s, Bill Vazan has
traveled by car, bus, subway and on foot in Montreal
and Toronto. The annotated photographs and maps of these
ambulatory performances became the starting point for
more ambitious projects dealing with lines and distance.
In true conceptual art fashion, Vazan eschewed the conventions
of ‘good’ photography, opting instead for
a more arbitrary and systematic approach. Photos were
taking at regular intervals (at every intersection,
for example) and informally (without regard for lighting,
framing, etc.). Drawing attention to the act of making
the photograph rather than its content, Vazan goal was
to provide raw evidence of his transitory journeys.
These “itineraries” as he called them, collapse
seeing and recording into one seamless activity.
Vazan then expanded this concept. With World Line
(1969–1971), and other related works, he
put black tape on gallery floors in Canada and abroad
to mark specific distances on a global scale, documenting
the entire process as he moved from place to place.
These virtual lines are no less real than other commonly
agreed upon markers, such as international borders or
shipping channels. With this project, Vazan demonstrates
the abstract nature of such delineations, which in our
era of global communications and travel, have become
even more arbitrary and complex. From cell phone domains
to international air travel, imaginary and ephemeral
lines are drawn and redrawn around the globe constantly.
Lines that connect and divide us, whether within a territory
or an international communications system, are a dominant
element in Bill Vazan’s work. That Vazan began
exploring this terrain forty years ago is remarkable
and makes this timely exhibition that much more interesting.
James Patten, Chief Curator
Art Gallery of Windsor
401 Riverside Drive West
Windsor, Ontario
N9A 7J1 Canada
www.artgalleryofwindsor.com
Gallery Hours
Wednesday......... 11 am – 8 pm
Thursday............. 11 am – 9 pm
Friday.................. 11 am – 9 pm
Saturday............. 11 am – 5 pm
Sunday............... 11 am – 5 pm
Monday.............. Closed
Tuesday.............. Closed
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