This archive offers a look back at past exhibitions presented by the Vancouver Art Gallery. Spanning a wide range of themes, time periods and artistic practices, these exhibitions reflect the Gallery’s ongoing commitment to showcasing art from British Columbia and around the world. Special attention is given to the accomplishments of Indigenous artists, as well as to those of the Asia Pacific region—through the Centre for Global Asias (formerly the Institute of Asian Art) founded in 2014. The Gallery’s exhibitions also explore the larger spheres of visual culture, design and architecture.
2025
2024
Multiple Realities: Experimental Art in the Eastern Bloc, 1960s–1980s
December 13, 2024–April 21, 2025
OF & ABOUT POSTERS:
THE LAWRENCE WEINER POSTER ARCHIVE (1965–2021) AT THE VANCOUVER ART GALLERYMarch 9–August 25, 2024
2023
![[Image Description: A studio shot of the sculpture positioned on a white backdrop: a bronze representation of a small bird, perched on top of a vertical pillar. The bronze is aged and oxidized, showing a pastel green patina. It is mounted onto a small wooden cube.]](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/wp-content/smush-webp/2023/01/Tanavoli_Poet-in_Love_with_Bird_G1975.42-768x1152.jpg.webp)
![[Image Description: A model with powdery white skin is posed with arms held upwards like a marionette on a dark stage in front of a red velvet curtain. She is wearing a dress designed by the Japanese designer Jun Takahashi. The dramatic garment includes a form-fitted, corset style jacket with puffed sleeves and a voluptuous, fuchsia bustle skirt constructed of silk and nylon ribbons that are sewn into a honeycomb pattern. The model’s golden hair is tied up into large donut-shaped buns, one on either side of her head.]](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/wp-content/smush-webp/2022/09/Takahashi-UNDERCOVER-7.jpg.webp)
![[Image Description: A black and white photograph of Alanis Obomsawin on stage. She is seated and wearing a floor length floral-print dress. Her hair hangs in two long braids over her shoulders. She holds a large hand drum, her right hand ready to play. The texture on the drum’s surface is emphasized by the grain of the film; it glows like a full moon. A microphone is positioned in the foreground.]](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/wp-content/smush-webp/2023/01/Obomsawin_2_Mariposa-Festival_Alanis-Obomsawin-performing-with-a-large-drum_Toronto-Telegram-fonds_F0433__ASC05824_HIGHRES_FREI-768x530.jpg.webp)
![[Image Description: Centering’s shapely body is a stack of spheres and vase-like forms positioned atop a ceramic wheel. The sculpture is costumed in bedazzled textiles from hat-top to tripod bottom. Hand-applied and sewn beads, crystals, feathers, human hair, netting and sequins adorn its surface, suggesting a fantastical celebrity performance costume. On the flat velvet surface of the tripod, a collection of pottery tools has been similarly jeweled. Shown mid-spin, the costume splays outward by force of the swivel.]](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/wp-content/smush-webp/2022/12/Boyle_Centuring-Front.jpg.webp)
2022
G̶uud san glans Robert Davidson: A Line That Bends But Does Not Break
November 26, 2022–April 16, 2023
![[Image Description: This work is a red neon sign diptych installed at the outdoor Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite at 1100 west Georgia Street. The exterior wall has a surface grid of large grey tiles. Each of the two neon statements fills three vertical tiles, installed two columns apart. The words are stacked vertically, one below the other. On the left, text reads: “No Pain Like This Body.” On the right, text reads: “No Body Like This Pain.”]](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/wp-content/smush-webp/2022/10/Lani_Maestro_Install_TEMP-NAME-3-768x512.jpg.webp)
![[Image Description: KC Hall stands on a ladder, adding finishing touches to his mural in the Gallery Lobby. The mural is painted across 2 perpendicular walls in a Pop Art and graffiti style, infused with Pacific Northwest Coast art elements. The colours red, black, white and blue are dominant. In the top left corner, a word bubble contains a statement that reads: “Omg! I heard the potlatch ban is over!” On the right, another word bubble contains the statement: “#Sacred A F.”]](https://www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/wp-content/smush-webp/2022/10/KC_Hall_Process_Mural-2-768x512.jpg.webp)
2021
YOKO ONO: GROWING FREEDOM
The Instructions of Yoko Ono / The Art of John and YokoOctober 9, 2021–May 1, 2022
2020
2019
Rapture, Rhythm and
the Tree of Life: Emily
Carr and Her Female
ContemporariesDecember 7, 2019–January 22, 2021
2018
2017
True Nordic: How Scandinavia Influenced Design in Canada
Nordique: L’Influence du design scandinave au CanadaOctober 28, 2017–February 4, 2018
2016
2015
Between Object and Action:
Transforming Media in the 1960s and 70sOctober 30, 2015–January 10, 2016
The Gund Collection:
Contemporary and Historical Art from the Northwest CoastSeptember 26, 2015–January 31, 2016
Material Future:
The Architecture of Herzog & de Meuron and the Vancouver Art GalleryMarch 27–October 4, 2015
Cézanne and the Modern:
Masterpieces of European Art from the Pearlman CollectionFebruary 14–May 18, 2015
2014
2013
Persuasive Visions:
17th Century Dutch and Flemish Masterworks and Contemporary ReflectionsJune 15–September 15, 2013
2012
SPIRITLANDS: t/HERE: Marian Penner Bancroft
Selected Photo Works 1975-2000
June 30–September 30, 2012
2011
The Distance Between You and Me:
3 Artists from Vancouver, Los Angeles and GuadalajaraSeptember 24, 2011–January 22, 2012
2010
Robert Adams:
The Place We Live, A Retrospective Selection of PhotographsSeptember 25, 2010–January 16, 2011
In Dialogue with Carr:
Douglas Coupland, Evan Lee, Liz Magor, Marianne NicolsonJuly 1, 2010–January 30, 2011
