PAUL WONG BIO
As a self-invented video pioneer and one of Canada’s most renowned multimedia artists, Paul Wong is an award-winning artist, curator, and organizer of events and public interventions since the mid-1970s. Known particularly for his tough engagement with issues of race, sex and death, Wong’s work is varied and eclectic, ranging from conceptual performances to complex narratives, meshing video, photography, installation and performance with rare Chinese-Canadian meets cutting edge counter culture perspectives.
Described as a Chinese-Canadian Warhol, Wong’s work is in your face, radical, eccentric, sexy, campy, shocking, experimental and spontaneous. He is a media subversive, a video renegade relying on artistic entrepreneurial smarts and is a raw originality with an eye for social context, driven by an insatiable search for identity, community and authenticity. Wong is constantly redefining his role as an artist and cultural strategist staying ten projects ahead of even himself and always unpredictable.
“When Paul Wong walks into a room, he can make anything happen. With an infectious attitude and charisma, he is the self-invented star of his own universe.”
- Heather Keung, Reel Asian
Wong has produced projects and shown his work throughout Canada, as well as in China and Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands, the UK and in the United States amongst elsewhere. His works are in many public collections including those of the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa), and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Winner of the Bell Canada Award in Video Art in 1992, Wong was also the first recipient of the Transforming Art Award from the Asian Heritage Foundation in 2002. In 2003 he was the inaugural winner of the Trailblazer Expressions Award, created by Heritage Canada, the National Film Board and CHUM Limited. Heralded as a “national treasure”, Wong was the 2005 recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts and was the Canadian Spotlight Artist and also awarded Best Canadian Film or Video at the 2008 Reel Asian International Film Festival.
Paul Wong is the founding director of several artists groups including the Video In/VIVO (Satellite Video Exchange Society 1973) and On Main (On The Cutting Edge Production Society).
Guest Artist Bios
Rebecca Belmore
Born in Upsala, Ontario, Rebecca Belmore is an internationally recognized artist currently living in Vancouver, BC. Since 1987, her multidisciplinary work has addressed history, place and identity through the media of sculpture, installation, video and performance. Belmore was Canada’s official representative at the 2005 Venice Biennale, and the 2009 recipient of the Hnatyshyn Foundation Award for Outstanding Achievement as an Artist.
www.rebeccabelmore.com
Dana Claxton
Dana Claxton is an interdisciplinary artist creating works in film, video, photography, installation and performance. She is also active as a curator, television producer and director and educator. She is well respected for her outspoken and leading views on contemporary aboriginal art and life. She is the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University, and her work will be exhibited at the 17th Biennale of Sydney 2010.
www.danaclaxton.com
Sahara Exodus
Third generation psychic Sahara Exodus is a certified palm reader, counsellor, and instructor trainer. Her passion is to support others in gaining tools to live a life of integrity, vision and fulfillment. Sahara Exodus will be providing fingertip readings at 5.5 Five Elements.
www.chaoticgoddess.com
Kenneth Fletcher (1954-1978)
Kenneth Fletcher met Paul in high school. He was an important collaborator. Ken continues to live in video memory. Have not heard from him in over 30 years. Still waiting for a sign.
Richard Fung
Richard Fung is a Trinidad-born, Toronto-based video artist and cultural critic. His work has been widely screened and collected internationally and broadcasted in Canada and the United States. His essays have been published in numerous journals and anthologies. Fung has received the Bell Canada Award for Video Art and the Toronto Arts Award for Media Art among other honours. He teaches at the Ontario College of Art & Design.
www.vtape.org
Brian Kent Gotro
Video is a core component in Vancouver-based Gotro’s interdisciplinary practice. His work activates qualities of the ephemeral, comedic, social and political. He has shown his work to audiences in Hong Kong, Russia, Norway, Berlin, New York, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and in his hometown of Kelowna, BC. His video works are distributed by Vtape
www.vtape.org.
John Greyson
John Greyson is a video artist, filmmaker and writer whose shorts, features and installations have been internationally screened and critically recognized. He was awarded the Toronto Arts Award for Film/Video in 2000, and the Bell Canada Video Art Award in 2007. Greyson teaches in the Department of Film at York University in Toronto.
www.vtape.org
Tim Hill
Tim Hill is a Vancouver-based artist whose audio-visual sculptures have crossed oceans and borders, thereby playing part in connecting the ends of the world wide electronic maze. He has worked as a visualist for industrial icons Skinny Puppy and at countless electronic festivals, weekly club nights, and one-off events. He operates the special event staging company Rim Visuals.
Brian Howell
Brian Howell is an award-winning editorial photographer and artist who has exhibited both nationally and internationally. He holds a BFA from Ryerson Polytechnic University in Film and Photograph. Howell is a regular contributor to Geist, Maclean’s, and Vancouver magazine, and has published a number of books, including Fame Us, which documents celebrity impersonators.
www.brianhowellphotography.com
Ali Kazimi
Ali Kazimi is one of Canada’s leading documentary filmmakers and winner of the Donald Brittain Gemini Award for Best Social/Political documentary for Runaway Grooms in 2005. His widely screened films have received two Genie Award nominations as well as numerous national and international honours and awards. He teaches film and video at York University in Toronto.
www.socialdoc.net
Joey Shithead Keithley
Frontman to the legendary Vancouver band D.O.A. since its formation in 1978, Keithley is hailed as Canada’s Godfather of punk. In addition to being a singer, songwriter, author, and political activist, he operates Sudden Death Records.
www.suddendeath.com
Heather Keung
Heather Keung has a BFA from the Ontario College of Art & Design. Her recent video, installation and performance art practice is inspired by physical labour, involuntary actions, and the training of the mind and body. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Keung is the Artistic Director of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival.
www.vtape.org
Steve Lacy (1934-2004)
Prolific musician Steve Lacy was the first avant garde jazz musician to make a specialty of the soprano saxophone. One of the greatest soprano saxophonists of all time, he is credited with bringing the instrument back from obscurity. He was awarded a fellowship “genius grant” by the MacArthur Foundation in 1992, and made a Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2002.
We don't determine music,
The music determines us;
We only follow it
To the end of our life:
Then it goes on without us.
From Saxovision by Steve Lacy.
www.stevelacymusic.org
Karin Lee
Karin Lee is a Canadian Academy Award (Gemini) winning filmmaker and media artist who has been making film and video works for the last 20 years. Lee’s films and videos, both fiction and documentaries, are about the effects of global displacement and the Chinese diaspora in North America. Ms. Lee was born, raised and is based in Vancouver, Canada.
www.videoout.ca
Diana Li
Diana Li is a Vancouver artist and mother of two. After graduating from the UBC Fine Arts Program in 1992, she co-founded Front & Company on Main Street, where her window displays have become famous. Li collaborated on Burka for 5.4 One More Than Three at Mountain View Cemetery.
Christian Nicolay
Christian Nicolay’s interdisciplinary art practice combines performance, mixed media drawing, sound recording, installation and video, exploring the relationships between order and chaos, and the unity of opposites. He summarizes his art and life by “paying attention to systematic confusion”. Nicolay is represented by the Winsor Gallery in Vancouver, BC.
www.christiannicolay.blogspot.com
Tony Pantages
Vancouver filmmaker Tony Pantages is an award-winning commercial and music video director. As Morpheus, he creates incredible live visual mixes with the world's best DJs and musicians. Pantages is currently working on Absolution, his first feature film.
www.pantages.tv
Skeena Reece
Skeena Reece is a Tsimshian Cree working artist and administrator based on the Westcoast of British Columbia. Her multidisciplinary practice includes performance art, spoken word, humor, sacred clowning, writing, singing, songwriting, and video art. She will be performing at the 2010 Sydney Biennale.
www.myspace.com/skeenareece
Marcus Rogers
Marcus Rogers has produced and created broadcast documentaries, music videos, concerts and feature films in Vancouver with his Cinestir team for over 20 years. He brings extensive technical skills in advanced digital image acquisition, display systems and a creative approach to post-production.
www.cinestir.com
Paddy Ryan
Paddy Ryan studied classical, jazz, electro acoustic, computer music, composition, and orchestration. He works internationally as a performer, a recording and live sound engineer and composer. Recent credits include arrangements and performances on the last two Rodney Graham records, Todd Fancey's (New Pornographers) Schmancey, Witches Night, Vancouver Nights (Sara Lapsley, The Gay). Working with Paul Wong since 1988, credits include Set Fires, Hungry Ghosts and Sally. Ryan has just released his first solo album Chain Link Fence.
www.bigpproductions.com
Team 5 Bios
Cam Andrews
Cam Andrews is a Vancouver Designer and Printmaker with a BFA in Visual Communication from the University of Washington. When he is not at Caje Creative Group where he is a partner, he can be found parked in front of the net for the arts based Vancouver Bombers Hockey Club.
www.cajecreative.com
Rosanne Bennett
Rosanne Bennett first met Paul after 'accidentally' tearing out his phone line 13 years ago. Joining Team ‘5’ was a natural progression for her. Living and working in Vancouver, she has been involved in many community-based arts organizations. Her visual art focuses on painting and drawing, depicting and abstracting. When asked to write her bio, she found this suggestion amusing: "When people see my work, I'd like them to _________."
www.rosannebennett.com
Byron Dauncey
Byron Dauncey is a photographer and artist who lives in Strathcona, Vancouver. His re-photo based public art works have been featured in The Globe and Mail and National Post. He is currently studying under photographer Lincoln Clarkes. Bryon is the official photographer for ‘5’.
www.dieneuefotografie.wordpress.com
Brian Kent Gotro
Video is a core component in Brian Kent Gotro’s interdisciplinary art practice. His work activates qualities of the ephemeral, comedic, social and political. He has shown his work to audiences in Hong Kong, Russia, Norway, Berlin, New York, Toronto, Winnipeg, Vancouver, and in his hometown of Kelowna, BC. His video works are distributed by Vtape. Since 2007, Brian has worked as Head Studio Assistant at Paul Wong Projects. He wears boxers.
www.vtape.org
Tim Hill
Tim Hill is a Vancouver-based artist whose audio-visual sculptures have crossed oceans and borders, thereby playing part in connecting the ends of the world wide electronic maze. He has worked as a visualist for industrial icons Skinny Puppy and at countless electronic festivals, weekly club nights, and one-off events. He operates the special event staging company Rim Visuals.
Bobbi Kozinuk
Bobbi Kozinuk is a media artist, technician and curator. He assisted with technical and staging for 5.3 LED Down The Garden Path, 5.4 One More Than Three and 5.5 Five Elements. Kozinuk is the electronics studio technician at Emily Carr University and teaches electronics for artists at UBC.
Jeff Little
Jeff Little was responsible for the amazing laser installations at 5.4 One More Than Three and 5.5 Five Elements. He operates Aspect Media in Vancouver, B.C.
Kelly Morris
Editor for award-winning film and television, Kelly Morris operates Waterfront Films Inc. In a welcome return to editing experimental art, his credits for ‘5’ include Vigil 5.4 and Downtown Eastside 5.5.
Natasha Neale
As ‘5’s Mobile Media Communications Correspondent, Natasha Neale uses social networking to connect followers to real-time updates. A graduate of Public Relations with a background in Event Management, Natasha’s clients include Canadian Fashion Designer Carlie Wong, NOBASURA Artist Management, and ION Magazine.
Archer Pechawis
Performance artist, new media artist, filmmaker, writer, curator and educator Archer Pechawis has been a practicing artist since 1984, with particular interest in the intersection of Plains Cree culture and digital technology. The recipient of many Canada Council and British Columbia Arts awards, he won the Best New Media Award at the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in 2007. Of Cree and European ancestry, he is a member of Mistawasis First Nation, Saskatchewan. He resides in Vancouver, British Columbia. Archer is ‘5’s Webmaster.
www.allnationsmedia.com
Marcus Rogers
Marcus Rogers has produced and created broadcast documentaries, music videos, concerts and feature films in Vancouver with his Cinestir team for over 20 years. He brings extensive technical skills in advanced digital image acquisition, display systems and a creative approach to post-production. Marcus is assisting in production, staging and documentation.
www.cinestir.com
Paddy Ryan
Paddy Ryan has worked with Paul since they met in London in 1988. He has composed soundtracks for several video works and managed the technical side of many installations. As a musician, performer, and technician, Paddy has been involved professionally and as a volunteer with Vancouver artists and arts organizations for over twenty years. He operates the media production company Big P Productions. Paddy is the Technical Director for ‘5’.
www.bigpproductions.com
Lisa Snelling
Lisa Snelling completed the Fine Arts program at Langara College in 2007, going on to receive her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from UBC Okanagan in 2009. Fortunately, graduating in the recession afforded her the freedom to accept the amazing opportunity of contributing production assistance to ‘5’, as well as developing her sculptural practice. She is currently looking for a husband.
Paul Wong
Paul Wong picked up a portapak video camera in the 1970’s as a rebel against the world around him, and has become one of Canada’s most renowned multimedia artists. His work is in your face, radical, eccentric, sexy, campy, shocking, experimental, and spontaneous. He is a media subversive, a video renegade relying on artistic entrepreneurial smarts and raw originality. With an eye for social context, he is driven by an insatiable search for identity, community and authenticity. Heralded as a “national treasure”, Paul was the 2005 recipient of the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. He prefers briefs. www.paulwongprojects.com
Team 5 Intern Bios
Claudia Fernandez
Claudia Fernandez is a third year Visual Arts student at Emily Carr University. Her work is heavily influenced by Mexican pop culture and it is expressed through different mediums such as illustration, sculpture and animation. She has a sound engineering background and is also a music composer. She has scored a few films over the years, including the award winning lesbian porn film Madame and Eve.
Heather Tsang
Heather Tsang is a foundation student at Emily Carr University. Toronto born, Vancouver bred, she spent two years studying Commerce in Montreal until the pull of visual arts reclaimed her. She is now aspiring toward a future in industrial design. She enjoys mojitos, complete breakfasts, and good company.
Andrea Van Schubert
Andrea Van Schubert is a fourth year BFA student at UBC. She has recently come out as a performance artist, a practice she combines with sculpture, installation, and video. She likes art that can clean up after itself and then disappear.
Kenneth Yuen
Kenneth Yuen is a 4th year BFA student at UBC. His practice is largely photo-based, addressing issues of the body, identity, and the abject. He is also the cutest intern ever.
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