Glenn Lewis, still from Blue Tape around a City Block (1969), 16 mm film loop, 9 min [Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver BC, Sep 11-Nov 7] Courtesy of the artist.

Glenn Lewis, Artifact (1970), detail of tile from glazed ceramic mural [Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver BC, Sep 11-Nov 7] Vancouver Art Gallery Collection Photo. Courtesy of the artist.

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.

www.presentationhousegall.com

Mia Johnson