— | James Nizam

▲ GROUP EXHIBITION @ BIRCH CONTEMPORARY ( TORONTO )

NEW MONUMENTS FORGET THE FUTURE
Curated by Rebecca Travis

Opening: July 7 · 2015 ⁄ 6 – 9pm
Exhibition: July 30 – September 5 · 2015

LUIS JACOB
EVA KOLCZE
HOWARD LONN
JAMES NIZAM
RICHARD STORMS
RENÉE VAN HALM

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“Instead of causing us to remember the past like the old monuments, the new monuments seem to cause us to forget the future…” – Robert Smithson (Entropy and the New Monuments, 1966)

In the wake of rapid urban developments populated by functional structures seemingly designed neither to offend nor impress, architecture – at one time synonymous with permanence – appears to be becoming increasingly shortsighted and transient, a response to the present as opposed to a statement for the future.

Drawing on this sense of impermanence, New Monuments Forget the Future brings together artworks that reference architecture in varying degrees of flux. Rather than having solid foundation, the structures throughout the exhibition are caught in transitional states between the built and deconstructed, actual and imaginary, the abstract and representational.

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Birch Contemporary
129 Tecumseth Street
Toronto, Canada
www.birchcontemporary.com

▲ ART15 LONDON WITH MAERZ GALERIE @ BOOTH E10

▲ SOLO EXHIBITION @ MAERZ GALERIE ( LEIPZIG )

VESTIGES OF MEMORY

Opening: May 1 · 2015 ⁄ 3 – 6.30pm
Exhibition: May 1 – August 22 · 2015

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Maerz Galerie is pleased to present Vestiges of Memory, a solo exhibition by Canadian artist, James Nizam. Nizam’s photo-sculptural works illuminate specific architectural details, imbuing these elements with a phantasmal luminosity. The image incites the viewer to consider the relation of memory and place, aesthetically investigating how our subjectivities linger with sites and objects, remaining as a ghostlike trace. In this sense, Nizam’s structural fixtures are equally grounded and tenuous, visualising how ephemeral temporality vividly contrasts with the stasis of geographic locale.

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Maerz Galerie
Spinnereistraße 7 / Halle 6
D-04179 Leipzig
www.maerzgalerie.com

▲ GROUP EXHIBITION @ SURREY ART GALLERY

VIEWS FROM THE SOUTHBANK
Curated by Jordan Strom

Opening: April 11 · 2015 ⁄ 7 – 9.30pm
Exhibition: April 11 – June 14 · 2015

Matilda Aslisadeh / Richard Bond / Randy Bradley / Claude Breeze / Edward Burtynsky / Lisa Chen / Jennifer Clark / Barbara Cole / Gregory W. Dawe / Brandon Gabriel / Gabor Gasztonyi / Alex Grewal / Elizabeth Hollick / Evan Lee / Ken Lum / Scott Massey / Paulo Majano / Michael Markowsky / Sean Mills / Jef Morlan / Ann Nelson / James Nizam / Zoë Pawlak / Barbara Pratezina / Helma Sawatzky / Ikbal Singh / Jeannette Sirios / Ken Wallace / Stella Weinert / Kira Wu

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We are surrounded by characters in the urban and suburban places we live. People—in their astonishing variety and complexity—show the different facets of what it is to be human. Places embody character too. We talk about an old house having “character” or the “face” of a building. Landscapes, just like humans, can convey emotions like boredom, uncertainty, or peacefulness.

Playing with an expanded idea of portraiture, the artists in Views from the Southbank II create representations or impressions of people and places, some working in traditional portraiture style and others using more experimental and collaborative methods. Their work is situated in context to the rapidly growing “South of Fraser” region of British Columbia’s Lower Mainland, comprising the municipalities of Surrey, Langley, Delta, and White Rock. In capturing the character(s) of a place that is constantly changing, the artists offer a brief interval in time—the present moment animated by the presence of individuals and places.

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Surrey Art Gallery
13750—88 Avenue
Surrey, BC
www.surreyartgallery.com

▲ SOLO EXHIBITION @ GALLERY JONES ( VANCOUVER )

MNEMØNIC LANDSCAPE

Opening: April 4 · 2015 ⁄ 5 – 8pm
Exhibition: April 4 – April 23 · 2015

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Gallery Jones is pleased to present Mnemonic Landscape, a solo exhibition of new works by James Nizam. Focused between the states of presence and absence, illumination and erasure, Mnemonic Landscape tackles the material of the trace as it moves into and out of dissolution. New ways to affix the photographic medium to alternative representations emerge, wherein a fragment, artefact, photograph or sculpture become one in the same thing. Within this framework, Mnemonic Landscape unveils the photographic possibilities for the still image to activate space.

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Gallery Jones
1725 West 3rd Avenue
Vancouver, BC
www.galleryjones.com