About
This exhibition now on display at the Music, Art and Architecture Library at UBC celebrates two late local artists, Michael Morris (1942 – 2022) and Rodney Graham (1949-2022). Explore their contributions to the local and international art scenes with library resources from the Music, Art & Architecture Library and archival materials from the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.
Michael Morris (1942 – 2022)
Michael Morris, a figurehead in the development of the Vancouver art scene in the 1960’s and 1970’s, had a varied artistic career as a painter, curator, photographer, performance artist and educator. Morris was renowned for his collaborative artistic practice, which included the founding of Image Bank with artist Vincent Trasov, and co-founding Western Front, one of Canada’s first artist-run centers. Morris had close ties to UBC’s Fine Arts Gallery (now the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery), which included a 1969 Concrete Poetry show and the 1971 Image Bank Postcard exhibition.
Rodney Graham (1949-2022)
Rodney Graham, known as one of Canada’s most innovative artists, had a wide-ranging career as a photo-conceptualist, performance artist, graphic artist, sculptor, and musician. Graham began studying Art History at UBC, later moving his studies to Simon Fraser University. Graham’s works were exhibited widely, including a number of exhibitions held at UBC’s Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery; this included works like School of Velocity and Parsifal, which saw UBC School of Music students performing sections of the score, and Millennial Time Machine, a public installation on UBC’s campus.