Stuart McCall

Fantasy Gardens

In early 2008 rumours began to circulate that the iconic Richmond property, Fantasy Garden World, was to be redeveloped. Fantasy Gardens had been a popular, if controversial show garden/theme park during the 1980's and 90's. In its heyday, the garden was owed by wealthy Dutch immigrant, Bill Vander Zalm, who was at the time, a provincial MLA who went on to become Premier of British Columbia. His later sale of the park led to charges of conflict of interest, which in turn led to his resignation in 1991 and the defeat of the Social Credit government. The garden then began a slow decline under the new offshore ownership, and was eventually closed.

When I heard about its imminent redevelopment, I was struck with a sense of sadness for several reasons. I was disturbed that this large bit of wild green space would be lost, and that this piece of local history was to be replaced with more suburban development.

For years I had driven past the garden with curiosity about what was going on in there. I got it into my head that I must get in and photograph the garden in its wild state. It took me more than a year to act, but in the spring of 2010, I entered off Number 5 Road, through a thicket of wild conifers and rhododendrons, and set about documenting the current state of the gardens. I visited the site several times over the course of 2010, initially in the spring, and finally in winter. The seasonal differences were striking and I photographed many of the same scenes during the two seasons.

During my first visit in the spring of 2010, I prowled around the property for two or three hours, photographing the various pathways, ponds and any remaining hardscape still visible. Sitting undisturbed for over a decade, I was struck by the resiliency of the previously domesticated flowering trees and shrubs, which had continued to flourish despite the lack of attention.

A few months later I returned and photographed the garden in December. Fantasy Garden had become a world of decaying vegetation, and crumbling statuary and structures. With much of the foliage gone, it was easier to see the structural elements of the garden. Collapsing arbours, small buildings covered in blackberry vines, fallen statuary, water features choked with weeds and bulrushes.

My passion for photographing human works in a state of transition is evident in much of my previous work. My series Encroachment suggests an imagined post-human world. Looking at our constructions and labours and imagining the length of time before all traces would be gone. Fantasy Gardens offered an excellent canvas to continue exploring this notion.

About Stuart McCall

Stuart McCall is an artist creating primarily photo-based works. Living in Vancouver, BC since 1968, he has been making images for several decades.

Frequently examining our relationship with the natural environment, McCall’s work explores the unexpected arrangement of elements that occur from chance effect. Using a visual aesthetic reminiscent of contemporary commercial imagery, he challenges us to consider the significance of visual coincidence. He frequently makes use of unconventional perspective and scale offering the viewer a fresh look at the familiar in order to challenge preconceived notions about our surroundings.

He began his career as a commercial photographer in 1982. His images have been published widely, featured in such titles as Time Magazine, Fortune Magazine, Saturday Night, Photography Monthly, Boston Globe, Times of London, as well as in books by National Geographic and Douglas & McIntyre. His work has been recognized by Communication arts, the Lotus Awards, and International Photography awards. Since the 1990s he has worked with Vancouver artist Neil Wedman on various photo based projects which have been exhibited widely. These include "Every Bus Stop from My Place to the Racetrack" 1997, and "Movies ‘til Dawn" 2009.

Stuart’s work is represented in Vancouver by the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Art Rentals and Sales, and in Calgary by Newzones Contemporary Art. His work has been exhibited at the Surrey Art Gallery, Richmond Art Gallery, Vancouver Art Gallery, Port Moody Arts Centre, Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs - Portable Collection, and the Orange County Center for Contemporary Art in California.

Stuart McCall is married, has two children, and lives south of Vancouver, where he finds considerable visual inspiration for his work. His interests outside of making images include keeping fit, and building things.

Gallery representation

Vancouver Art Gallery Sales and Rentals

Since 2005
Manager: Zoe Mackoff de Miranda
Art Rental & Sales

Newzones, Calgary, Alberta

Since 2014
Directors: Tamar Zenith, Helen Zenith
Newzones

Artist Talks & Presentations

2016

Vancouver Art Gallery Art Rentals and Sales. Artist Talk, “Indistrioglyphs.”
2015

Visual Space Gallery, Vancouver, BC. Artist Talk, “Edges of Light.”
2012

Richmond Art Gallery, Richmond, BC. Artist Talk, “Fantasy Gardens.”
2012

Visual Space Gallery, Vancouver, BC. Presentation on Fine Art relationship with Commercial Photography.

Exhibitions

2021

Abandoned. Artspace Gallery, Lake Oswego, OR, Group Show.
2021

Typologies, A Study. The Commotion Gallery, Vancouver, BC, Virtual Exhibition.
2021

Typologies. Blue Sky Gallery, Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers.
2020

OCCCA@40. Orange County Center for Creative Art, CA. Group Show.
2019

Perception. Newzones Gallery, Calgary, AB. Group Show.
2019

Qualities of Light. Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona, Tucson. Group Show.
2018

Industrial Landscapes II. Capture Photography Festival, Vancouver, BC. Slideluck V, digital Projection.
2017

Industrioglyphs. Capture Photography Festival, Vancouver, BC. Public Art Installation.
2017

Perceptions. Newzones Gallery, Calgary, AB. Group show.
2016

Landscape X 7. Newzones Gallery, Calgary, AB. Group show.
2016

Industrioglyphs. Vancouver Art Gallery Art Rentals and Sales, Vancouver, BC. Solo show.
2016

tXtMe. Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art, California. Group show.
2016

Marcia Rafelman Fine Arts, Annual Group Exhibit. Toronto, Ontario. Group show.
2015

“Views From the Southbank III, Information, Objects, Mapping.” Surrey Art Gallery. Group show.
2015

Marcia Rafelman Fine Arts. Toronto, Ontario. Group show.
2014

Rogers Cup 2014. Artwork in executive suites courtesy of AGO Art Rental & Sales. Marcia Rafelman Fine Arts. Toronto, Ontario.
2014

Home. Group show. Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art. Santa Anna, CA.
2014

Refresh. Group show. Marcia Rafelman Fine Art. Toronto, ON.
2014

Port Mann Bridge. Burnaby Art Gallery, Off Site Exhibition Space. Burnaby, BC.
2013

Port Mann Bridge. Coquitlam Art Gallery, Off Site Exhibition Space. Coquitlam, BC.
2013

Ruins. Culture Series Group show, Vancouver Art Gallery, digital image projection. Vancouver, BC.
2013

City of Seattle, Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs, portable exhibition. Group show. Seattle, WA.
2013

Blue Sky Gallery, Pacific Northwest Photography Viewing Drawers. Portland, OR.
2012

Orange County Centre for Contemporary Art, Subdivision. Group show. Princeton, BC.
2012

Barrister Lounge, Vancouver Courthouse, selected works. Vancouver, BC.
2012

Fantasy Gardens. Richmond Art Gallery, exhibition with Neil Wedman. Richmond, BC.
2011

Rental House. Vancouver Art Gallery, Culture Series, digital slide show. Vancouver, BC.
2009

Industrial Landscapes. SFU Gallery, slideshow in McLean Park. Vancouver, BC.
2009

Works of Man. Center for Fine Art Photography. Fort Collins, CO.
2009

Inaugural group exhibition. NYAXE Gallery. Paulo Alto, CA.
2009

Axis Exposed. Group show. Axis Contemporary Art. Fort Calgary, AB.
2008

Gasoline Romance. Group show. Canvas Gallery. Vancouver, BC.
2007

Latitude of Colour. Vancouver Art Gallery Art Rentals and Sales. Vancouver, BC.
2007

Discontinuous Spectrums. Port Moody Art Gallery. Port Moody, BC.
2006

Beyond Belief. Group show. Surrey Art Gallery. Surrey, BC.
2006

Environmental Photography International. Group show. Art Wolfe Photographic Center. Seattle, WA.
2003

Quirky People. CBC Radio 3 Web Gallery.
1992

Faces of Canada photographic exhibition
1990

ASMP Seattle Chapter group show
1987

PPABC group traveling exhibit
1984

Gamma PROLAB / client’s exhibit
1982

Student exhibition / PNE photo & travel show

Typologies

As we observe the world around us, we unconsciously curate the visual information as it arrives, in an effort to understand a confusion of data. Our brain lumps familiar or similar objects into groups, creating patterns which are easily recognized. While this has been a very helpful evolutionary response to too much information, we are denied the enjoyment of nuance and variation as we observe our environment.

This series of compositions examines the effects of familiarity and ubiquity on our cognition, using visually familiar objects depictive of specific locations, and traditions. Photographs of these similar manmade and naturally occurring objects are presented as large black and white prints in the form of arrays, or grids, emphasizing both the similarities and variation within the groups.

For this project, objects are photographed in a rigorously formal manner that brings to mind meticulous botanical illustrations. Each subject, whether a series of olive trees or fireworks vendor kiosks, is photographed with an eye to objective documentation. With direct frontal views, photographing in an undramatic manner, this work furthers my exploration of dispassionate looking, creating precise depictions of these objects. Printed in the form of grids, these diagrammatic presentations evoke the rigor of scientific classification. In form, the structure of a contact sheet of film negatives.

Following the lead of the 20th century conceptual artists, Bernd and Hilla Becher, this works encourage the viewer to engage deeply with the formal qualities of the subject matter. While we become more aware of richness of detail within a typology, we may recognize the transience of what we encounter every day. Hilla Becher observed that by placing similar objects side by side something happens; you don’t see what makes the objects different until you bring them together. It is in the compilation that conclusions of ubiquity and familiarity, pattern and variation become apparent. The precise, side-by-side presentation stimulates consideration of the ways in which we organize and receive information, about our immediate environment and the wider world.

Featureless Landscape

What is featureless? In a landscape there is no such thing. But in this case, it is an idea - the idea of having nothing particular to look at, but rather, a myriad of details. The longer you engage with these images, the more you’ll see. This body of work explores the edges of pictorial photography, eschewing formal compositional expectations, preferring instead to present a wide evenly distributed field of content.

These landscapes are not really featureless; they simply lack a definitive centre of interest. They do not subscribe to conventional systems of composition and structure. In these pieces I have opted for uniformly interesting fields.

Over the past several years my practice has shifted between industrial and contemporary urban landscapes. I have consistently assumed an observational point of view, creating images that, for the most part, subscribe to the traditions of pictorial landscape artworks. Of late, I have taken an increasingly abstract approach to landscape illustration. In these works in particular, I have focused my attention on the texture and colour content, letting the actual subject take a secondary role.

These works examine the role of the artist in the space between the viewer and the artwork. These vague images give the observer the impression of freedom from the artist’s influence. The Featureless Landscape is a place where the viewer’s eye has permission to wander at will throughout the piece. There is no hierarchy of content or path set forth for the eye to follow. Nevertheless, the content has been carefully curated to adhere to the thesis being explored. I have chosen scenes that are emotionally interesting, monochromatic, and with content evenly distributed throughout.

This project has a affinity more in common with the colour field paintings of Mark Rothko and Barnett Newman, or the random abstractions of Jean-Paul Riopel and Jackson Pollock, than with the highly structured landscapes of John Constable, Claude Monet or Ansel Adams.

The image clarity inherent in photography is such that the images go beyond the visual simplicity of these colour field paintings. A myriad of detail will reveal itself as the viewer draws physically closer; as the scene is rendered in sharp 21st century digital clarity. Yet from a distance the subject matter tends to blend together into an amalgamation

Industrioglyphs

During the past decade my predominantly documentary photography practice has developed in a steady path with an observational perspective, exploring the contemporary industrial worksite. When I began photographing this subject matter, it was with an eye to architectural design and heroic structural elements. Recently I have focused my attention on specific idiosyncratic details within the same landscape.

During visits to sites of construction and industrial activity, I have been drawn to a recurring curious language of colourful temporary markings inscribed on cement buttresses, building walls, road surfaces, posts, boulders, trees, and even made directly onto the ground. Reminiscent of Cuneiform, Elamite or prehistoric scripts painted onto cave walls and cliff faces, these inscriptions pass a message to some future observer, which presumes an understanding continuum.

In a complex, hazardous and deadline driven environment like the modern-day construction site, a simple method of mark making is often the only, and certainly the most expedient way to pass on information from one crew to another. With the use of spray paint, chalk, pencils, paint and felt markers, these markings are created, employing various conventions – geometric representations, coloured symbols, numerals, acronyms, and abbreviated words.

It is the temporary nature of these markings that I find compelling, marking the transition between permanence and impermanence. Lasting for months, weeks or minutes, they indicate the need for an action to be taken. They are soon covered, sawn through, dug up or otherwise removed from sight. With photography it is possible to contrast the temporary nature of the markings with the permanence of the resulting structure and the actual photographic print itself, allowing for examination and interpretation over time.

Stuart McCall Fine Art

Fantasy Gardens

About Stuart McCall

Gallery representation

Vancouver Art Gallery Sales and Rentals

Newzones, Calgary, Alberta

Artist Talks & Presentations

Exhibitions

Typologies

Featureless Landscape

Industrioglyphs

Fantasy Gardens

Wide Desert

Industrial Landscapes

Urban Scenic

Discontinuous Spectrums

Industrial Monochromes