Takao Tanabe, one of Canada's greatest artists, on display now at Centre A in Vancouver

FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE

 

Centre A presents

 

 

TAKAO
TANABE

 

Banners & Banner Paintings 1969
– 1973

 

EXHIBITION: January 7 – February 18,
2006

 

RECEPTION: Sunday, January 29, 2-5
pm

 

Free parking lot at 23 West
Pender

 

Exhibition Sponsor: Anndraya T.
Luui

 

Centre A is honoured to host a solo
exhibition by one of Canada’s greatest artists, Takao
Tanabe. The exhibition features a series of over 30 banners and banner
paintings. These dramatic works make full use of Centre A’s high ceiling and
open space. The exhibition coincides with Tanabe’s career retrospective, opening
at the Vancouver
Art Gallery on January 21. Centre A will host
a public reception with the artist in attendance on Sunday afternoon, January
29, to coincide with Chinatown celebrations of
the Year of the Dog.

 

Tanabe’s banners maintain a strong
contemporary edge even after thirty years. He started making them in the late
1960s, a time of great change in the arts, when painting seems literally to be
leaping off the wall. Commissions to produce banners for public spaces in
Regina and Winnipeg inspired him to explore other
applications of the form. Some were painted on canvas, while others were made in
collaboration with a commercial flag maker in New York. These works on nylon are translucent
and in some cases over 16 feet long. Seen from behind they look like stained
glass windows.

 

Born in Seal Cove, a fishing village
near Prince Rupert,
BC, Takao Tanabe has been a leader
in Canadian art for half a century. He represented Canada at the
Sao Biennale of 1953 and has been going strong ever since. He is a master
painter whose astonishing career includes a wide range of styles. For many years
he was Head of the Art Program at the Banff School of Fine Arts, where he
influenced many younger artists. He is a recipient of the Governor General’s
Award and the Order of Canada. His work is represented by the Equinox Gallery
where it will be featured in an exhibition opening on February
15.

 

Centre A is pleased to be mounting
this exhibition in cooperation the Vancouver Art
Gallery, continuing a
tradition of collaboration between the two
organizations.

 

We are extremely grateful to the
President of Centre A’s Board of Directors, Anndraya T. Luui, for her generous
sponsorship of this exhibition.

 

Centre A acknowledges the generous
support of patrons, sponsors, members, partners, private foundations, and
government funding agencies, including the Canada Council for the Arts, the
British Columbia Arts Council, and the City of Vancouver through the Office of Cultural
Affairs.

 

Centre A

Vancouver International Centre for
Contemporary Asian Art

2 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC,
Canada, V6B 1G6

t. 604-683-8326; f.
604-683-8632

centrea@centrea.org;  www.centrea.org

Gallery Hours: Tuesday-Saturday,
11am-6pm