Flakey

source: artsy-dartsy

Vancouver artist Glenn Lewis covers 50 years of his practice as an artist whose socially engaged spirit influenced the cross disciplinary and interactive practices informing west coast art in the late sixties and seventies. From Lewis’ adoption of the persona Flakey Rose Hip to his continued interest in experimenting with such varied media as ceramics, performance and photography, this talk addresses a wide range of works and his equally wide array of inspirations and influences.

Born in 1935, Glenn Lewis initially worked in ceramics. He developed a remarkably expansive art practice that has been widely exhibited, performed and screened since then and is in major collections. A founder of Vancouver’s legendary Western Front, his prolific output includes sculpture, performance, environments, synchronized swimming events, installation, correspondence art, film, photography, social events and most recently a street parade. Glenn Lewis’ films are part of the major touring exhibition Traffic: Conceptual Art In Canada c. 1965-1980 scheduled to open at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2012.
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source: preview-art

Glenn Lewis is a Canadian conceptual artist born in 1935. Flakey: The Early Works of Glenn Lewis focuses on the first decade of his art production, beginning in the late 1960s. During this time, his work blurred the boundaries between media and between viewer and artist. He has since developed an expansive approach to artmaking that crosses many disciplines: ceramics, sculpture, performance art, mail art, environments, writing, film, photography and dinner parties. He continues to be active today with new performance art pieces, videos, installations and photographs.

Lewis graduated from the Vancouver School of Art in 1958 and earned a teaching certificate from the University of British Columbia in 1959. He studied ceramics with Bernard Leach in Cornwall, England before returning to Vancouver and becoming an active member of Vancouver’s avant-garde art scene in the 1960s. He was a co-founder of Vancouver’s legendary Western Front, where he initiated the video program, curated the Performance Art Program, and initiated and co-ordinated the Computer-Integrated Media Program. He also taught at UBC for many years.

Lewis has had numerous exhibitions and performances in Stuttgart, Toronto, Montreal, Paris, Antwerp, Los Angeles, Berlin, Budapest, Amsterdam, New York and other cities.