Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver

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CAG is a non-profit public art gallery dedicated to the research, exhibition, education & documentation of contemporary visual art.
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Open Tuesday to Sunday 12 pm → 6 pm
Admission always free The Contemporary Art Gallery promotes knowledge and understanding of contemporary visual art through:

Initiation and promotion of exhibitions, publications, learning and outreach programs presenting work made by both Canadian and international artists

Development of dynamic and committed relationships between art, artists and audiences that support and contribute to a diverse community

Playing a key role in the cultural life of Vancouver and British Columbia

Offering access to everyone

Informative and engaging resources on visual arts

Establishment of the City of Vancouver Art Collection of 3,000 works of art which are circulated in public spaces throughout City buildings and loaned for exhibition to museums and galleries

CAG congratulates artist Steven Shearer, who has received the 2026 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts.Over more than three...
09/24/2026

CAG congratulates artist Steven Shearer, who has received the 2026 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts.

Over more than three decades, Shearer has worked across painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, printmaking and collage. The Vancouver-based artist’s practice is distinguished by an expansive engagement with images and objects drawn from both art history and everyday visual culture, bringing together seemingly disparate references including heavy metal, popular culture, youth subcultures, vernacular imagery and the internet.

Image credit: Installation view from Steven Shearer at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, November 19, 2004 - January 2, 2005. Photo: Chris Gergley.

Steven Shearer Studio
audainprize

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Image description: Installation image of works by Steven Shearer. Seven text-based works, on which English words appear in all capital letters in white on black background, are mounted on the wall.

In 2004, Shearer presented the first solo museum project of his career at CAG. Assembling a wide spectrum of the artist’s work to date, the exhibition explored Shearer’s engagement with the vernacular aesthetics of the 1970s as a site for considering the emancipatory energies and sometimes revolutionary potential of teens and youth.

The catalogue for this exhibition is available for sale at the CAG bookstore in person and online.

Shearer was also featured in a 1994 group exhibition at CAG, alongside Warren Murfitt and Derek Root.

Image credit: Installation view from Steven Shearer at the Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, November 19, 2004 - January 2, 2005. Photo: Chris Gergley.

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Image description: Installation of photo and collage works by Steven Shearer on a gallery wall. The largest work in the centre shows two people with long hair posing in matching black leather jackets and sunglasses.

Contemporary Art Gallery sends our deepest congratulations to Carole Itter on her 2026 Governor General’s Award in Visua...
09/16/2026

Contemporary Art Gallery sends our deepest congratulations to Carole Itter on her 2026 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.

In 1990, Itter showed the installation work “Western Blue Rampage” at CAG in a joint exhibition with Sandra Semchuk, curated by then-Director/Curator Bill Jeffries.

Image credit: Carole Itter, Western Blue Rampage (installation), 1990. Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver.


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Image description: An artwork against a wall in a gallery. The wall is white, with a large blue section in the middle. The work rests on the blue on the wall and is composed of hundreds of repurposed objects.

Jeffries wrote of Itter’s practice at the time: [Itter’s] act of gathering material for these works has become an avocation that precedes the vocation of making the work. But it is this gathering of materials that provides a direct connection to the results of excess production, through which the artist recycles ‘waste’ and steps out of the dominant culture and into that of the oppressed. As Itter has pointed out…assemblage artists work with a constantly changing grammar of found-materials, and that this gathering and reworking ‘runs against consumerism/capitalism.’”

Image credit: Carole Itter, Western Blue Rampage (installation view), 1990. Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver.

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Image description: A closeup of an artwork at the base of a wall. The work is composed of hundreds of discarded objects, including framed photos, ceramic and wooden bowls, beads, industrial gears, and wall shelves.

Sending our sincerest congratulations to Faye HeavyShield on her 2026 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts....
09/16/2026

Sending our sincerest congratulations to Faye HeavyShield on her 2026 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts.

In 2021, HeavyShield presented an exhibition of new works at CAG in response to an invitation from fellow artist Charlene Vickers. HeavyShield’s work was also featured in the landmark 1995 CAG exhibition “Nations in Urban Landscapes,” curated by Marcia Crosby.

Image credit: Faye HeavyShield, installation view of New Work, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2021. Photo: SITE Photography.


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Image description: A wide shot of a gallery with a low square plinth on the floor with a long red beaded rope placed on top, forming curved shapes. To the right, dozens of small drawings on paper hang on a wall.

In a career spanning more than thirty years, HeavyShield has developed a practice of profound influence, renowned as readily for its poetic use of form and material as its evocative embodiments of memory, community and place. A powerfully concise aesthetic vocabulary gives shape to HeavyShield’s work, one rooted in the topography and texture of her homeland in the foothills of Southern Alberta and her upbringing in the Kainai Nation.

Image credit: Faye HeavyShield, I’ll know you when I see you (detail), 2021. Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. Photo: SITE Photography.

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Image description: A detail shot of wall with many black and red pen drawings of silhouettes of people on white paper.

“An unbound sculpture, ropelike in form, anchors the exhibition, accompanied by a series of gestural drawings that recall the shape of a memory. Bearing the hallmarks of HeavyShield’s practice—repetition, distillation and material humility—these works extend the artist’s career-long reflections on continuance, on that which connects and sustains.”

Excerpt of the exhibition text from Faye HeavyShield: New Work, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, September 17, 2021–January 2, 2022.

Image credit: Faye HeavyShield, the red line (detail), 2021. Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. Photo: SITE Photography.

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Image description: A detail shot of a red beaded rope against a white background.

Sending our sincerest congratulations to Faye HeavyShield and her fellow recipients of the 2026 Governor General’s Award...
09/16/2026

Sending our sincerest congratulations to Faye HeavyShield and her fellow recipients of the 2026 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

In 2021, HeavyShield presented an exhibition of new works at CAG in response to an invitation from fellow artist Charlene Vickers. HeavyShield’s work was also featured in the landmark 1995 CAG exhibition “Nations in Urban Landscapes,” curated by Marcia Crosby.

Image credit: Faye HeavyShield, installation view of New Work, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, 2021. Photo: SITE Photography.


—⁠
Image description: A wide shot of a gallery with a low square plinth on the floor with a long red beaded rope placed on top, forming curved shapes. To the right, dozens of small drawings on paper hang on a wall.

In a career spanning more than thirty years, HeavyShield has developed a practice of profound influence, renowned as readily for its poetic use of form and material as its evocative embodiments of memory, community and place. A powerfully concise aesthetic vocabulary gives shape to HeavyShield’s work, one rooted in the topography and texture of her homeland in the foothills of Southern Alberta and her upbringing in the Kainai Nation.

Image credit: Faye HeavyShield, I’ll know you when I see you (detail), 2021. Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. Photo: SITE Photography.

—⁠
Image description: A detail shot of wall with many black and red pen drawings of silhouettes of people on white paper.

“An unbound sculpture, ropelike in form, anchors the exhibition, accompanied by a series of gestural drawings that recall the shape of a memory. Bearing the hallmarks of HeavyShield’s practice—repetition, distillation and material humility—these works extend the artist’s career-long reflections on continuance, on that which connects and sustains.”

Excerpt of the exhibition text from Faye HeavyShield: New Work, Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver, September 17, 2021–January 2, 2022.

Image credit: Faye HeavyShield, the red line (detail), 2021. Contemporary Art Gallery, Vancouver. Photo: SITE Photography.

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Image description: A detail shot of a red beaded rope against a white background.

Curatorial Tour with Aretha Pereira22 SEPT · 6:00 PM⁠Join CAG’s Assistant Curator Aretha Pereira for a walkthrough of th...
09/15/2026

Curatorial Tour with Aretha Pereira
22 SEPT · 6:00 PM⁠

Join CAG’s Assistant Curator Aretha Pereira for a walkthrough of the gallery’s current exhibitions. No advance registration required.⁠
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Image: Douglas Watt, Café (installation view), 2026. Photo: Rachel Topham Photography.

Douglas Watt
Rachel Topham Photography Ltd.

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Image description: A detail of a miniature architectural model of a café made with cardboard, paper, fabric, and other materials. There is a bar, a dining area with red floors and many tables, and a small bathroom.

Curatorial Tour with Aretha Pereira
22 SEPT · 6:00 PM⁠

Join CAG’s Assistant Curator Aretha Pereira for a walkthrough of the gallery’s current exhibitions. No advance registration required.⁠
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Image: Douglas Watt, Café (installation view), 2026. Photo: Rachel Topham Photography.

Douglas Watt
Rachel Topham Photography Ltd.

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Image description: Yellow graphic with text that reads “Curatorial Tour with Aretha Pereira, 22 September 6pm.”

Saturday Session: Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez on Rafik Greiss15 AUG · 12:00 PM⁠One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest ...
08/07/2026

Saturday Session: Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez on Rafik Greiss
15 AUG · 12:00 PM⁠

One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest host to lead walkthroughs of our current exhibitions, offering their insights and response to the works on view. In August, we welcome Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez to speak on the work of Rafik Greiss. No advance registration required.

Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez is an artist working with photography and film/video. Recent solo presentations include David Peter Francis, New York City (2024); Center for Cultural & Artistic Practices, Winnipeg (2021); and Terremoto/La Postal, Mexico City (2019). His work has been a part of group exhibitions, most recently, Luhring Augustine, New York City (2024); National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa (2023), and the Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow (2022). His work has been featured in *Aperture, Artforum, Border Crossings*, the *New York Times*, and is in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 2019 he was a participant at the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture.

Images:
1: Portrait of Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez. Photo: Khim Hipol.
2: Rafik Greiss, By the Highway (installation view), 2026. Photo: Rachel Topham Photography.

Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez
Rachel Topham Photography Ltd.
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Image descriptions: ⁠
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1. Portrait of a person in a black sweater and baseball cap with their arms crossed against a green background.

2. Text that reads, “Saturday Session: Gonzalo Reyes Rodriguez on Rafik Greiss, 15 AUG · 12PM⁠” over a lemon yellow and ivory background.⁠
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3. A gallery’s exterior windows installed with photographs of an artist balancing furniture on top of each other.

Curatorial Tour with Aretha Pereira and Daniel Pickering21 JULY · 6:00 PM⁠Join CAG’s Assistant Curators Aretha Pereira a...
07/15/2026

Curatorial Tour with Aretha Pereira and Daniel Pickering
21 JULY · 6:00 PM⁠

Join CAG’s Assistant Curators Aretha Pereira and Daniel Pickering for a walkthrough of the gallery’s spring 2026 exhibitions. No advance registration required.⁠
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Image: Douglas Watt, Mayor of the Village (exhibition view), 2026. Photo: Rachel Topham Photography.

Douglas Watt
Rachel Topham Photography Ltd.

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Image descriptions: ⁠
⁠1. A wide angle shot of a gallery with seven miniature architectural models hanging against the walls. An oblong yellow pendant light hangs from the ceiling. There is a faint rainbow light on the grey concrete floor.

2. Text that reads, “Curatorial Tour with Aretha Pereira and Daniel Pickering 21 July, 6 PM⁠” over a lemon yellow and ivory background.

Saturday Session: Cait McKinney and Hazel Meyer on Douglas Watt27 JUNE · 12:00 PM⁠One Saturday each month, CAG invites a...
06/19/2026

Saturday Session: Cait McKinney and Hazel Meyer on Douglas Watt
27 JUNE · 12:00 PM⁠

One Saturday each month, CAG invites a guest host to lead walkthroughs of our current exhibitions, offering their insights and response to the works on view. In June, we welcome Cait McKinney (Cait McKinney) and Hazel Meyer (Hazel Meyer 🍉) to speak on the work of Douglas Watt (Douglas Watt). No advance registration required.

Hazel Meyer’s work with installation, performance, and text investigates the relationships between sexuality, feminism, and material culture. Cait McKinney is a media historian who researches q***r and feminist social movements. Hazel and Cait have been collaborating since 2014 to explore their shared attachments to q***r histories through research, writing, video, and archival interventions. Together they take up experimental methods for enlivening archives related to sexuality and LGBTQ history. Recent exhibitions, screenings and performances of their work have taken place at: Mitchell Art Gallery (Edmonton, CA), ARQUIVES (Toronto, CA), A Tale of A Tub (Rotterdam, NL), Western Front (Vancouver, CA), Eastern Edge Gallery (St. John’s, CA), Glasgow International Art Biennial (Glasgow, SCT), Kurzfilm Festival (Hamburg, DE), P**n Film Festival (Berlin, DE), 62nd BFI Film Festival, London, UK), and The International Festival of Films on Art (Le FIFA) (Montréal, CA).

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Image descriptions: ⁠
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1. Text that reads, “Saturday Session: Cait McKinney and Hazel Meyer on Douglas Watt, 27 June, 12 PM⁠” over a lemon yellow and ivory background.⁠
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2. Selfie of Hazel Meyer and Cait McKinney. Meyer (left) crosses their arms in a blue sweater and yellow beanie. McKinney (right) has short grey hair and wears a brown vest over a button-up.

Curatorial Tour with Matthew Hyland⁠9 JUNE · 6:00 PM⁠⁠Join CAG’s Executive Director Matthew Hyland for a walkthrough of ...
06/03/2026

Curatorial Tour with Matthew Hyland⁠
9 JUNE · 6:00 PM⁠
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Join CAG’s Executive Director Matthew Hyland for a walkthrough of the gallery’s spring 2026 exhibitions. No advance registration required.⁠
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Image: Douglas Watt, Little Sister's (detail), 2023.⁠

https://cagvancouver.org/event/curatorial-tour-june-9-2026
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Image descriptions: ⁠
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1. Close up of a miniature of a bookstore made of cardboard and textile materials. On the shelves are tiny books with miniaturized versions of real book covers.⁠
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2. Text that reads, “Curatorial Tour with Matthew Hyland, 9 June, 6 PM⁠” over a lemon yellow and ivory background.

Reading | Ser Serpas18 APR · 12:00 PM⁠ Please join us for a poetry reading by Ser Serpas on the occasion of her exhibiti...
04/10/2026

Reading | Ser Serpas
18 APR · 12:00 PM⁠

Please join us for a poetry reading by Ser Serpas on the occasion of her exhibition “rent.”
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Registration for this event is encouraged; tickets are free.

https://cagvancouver.org/event/reading-ser-serpas
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Photo: James Bantone
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[Image descriptions: ⁠
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1. A portrait of Ser Serpas, dressed in a black top and denim jeans, sitting on a velvet gold-toned sofa. Her long black hair partially shadows her face as she gazes down with a somber expression.
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2. Text that reads “Reading: Ser Serpas.⁠ April 18 at 12 PM” over a lemon yellow and ivory background.⁠⁠]

Address

555 Nelson Street
Vancouver, BC
V6B6R5

Opening Hours

Tuesday 12pm - 6pm
Wednesday 12pm - 6pm
Thursday 12pm - 6pm
Friday 12pm - 6pm
Saturday 12pm - 6pm
Sunday 12pm - 6pm

Telephone

+16046812700

Website

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