WOOSH: From Two North Shore Collections, on display until Jan. 16 at Griffin Art Projects, 1174 Welch St., North Vancouver. Hours: Saturdays, noon to 5 p.m., or by appointment. Free admission.
Henning Freybe doesn't hesitate for a second when asked to recall the first piece of art he and his wife Brigitte ever bought.
"There's no question. It was by an artist from Los Angeles called Peter Alexander, and we have it still today, it's still a lovely piece," he says. That first purchase was back in 1971. More than 40 years later, the Freybes have amassed an impressive collection of more than 100 contemporary works by local and international artists.
Most of their acquisitions are proudly on display in their West Vancouver home. Over the years, they have lent out pieces here and there to museums and galleries. Now, for the first time ever, a large selection from their private collection is on exhibit for the public to see.
The Freybes recently founded Griffin Art Projects, a new gallery space on Welch Street at Pemberton Avenue in North Vancouver. The renovated warehouse has just under 3,000 square feet of dedicated gallery space on the main floor and 10 artist's studios upstairs. The mandate of the gallery is to show contemporary artworks from private collections, giving the public exposure to pieces by artists who might not be shown in other galleries, and giving those same artists the chance to exhibit creations that were sold privately.
The inaugural exhibit, WOOSH, curated by Helga Pakasaar, features about 25 works drawn from the Freybes' collection, as well as the private collection of North Shore residents Kathleen and Laing Brown. There's a mix of wall art, sculpture, installations, and multimedia pieces.
"I chose works that kind of gave a context to other pieces. There's quite a strong emphasis on artists from our region, and specifically emerging artists," Pakasaar says. "Both the Browns and the Freybes have been very bold in acquiring works by artists who aren't yet so well known, so there's a bit of an emphasis on that, as well as some established people."
Among the best-known names in the WOOSH exhibit are Vancouver artists Liz Magor and Stan Douglas, both of whom have been shown at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Then there's the lesser-knowns, such as Italian artist Pier Paolo Calzolari, whose untitled 1989 installation incorporates burnt salt, burnt felt, dyes, lead and a refrigeration unit.
"That's a very exciting piece to see in the flesh and experience it physically and bodily - you know, you can feel the cold coming off of it," Pakasaar says.
Gallery visitors will also see a piece by another Italian artist, Guiseppe Penone, whose "Spine d'accacia" (2008) is made of silk and thorns from the acacia tree.
"It looks like a drawing from a distance, and as you approach it you see that it's entirely made of these thorns. It's very beautiful." Then there's Chilean-born Alfredo Jaar's "Three Women" (2010) - an imposing installation that includes 18 spotlights directed at three tiny wall-mounted portraits of influential, though relatively unknown, women. The viewer sees these women through a crowded network of lights, stands and electrical cords.
"For audiences who might not necessarily be big followers of contemporary art, to see something like that is very direct," Pakasaar says.
The Freybes have long been drawn to contemporary art because it poses such a mental challenge. It can be subversive, political, enigmatic, and, at times, downright unusual, begging viewers to ask the question: "What is art?" "There's something in the excitement of contemporary artists who work with the mind rather than with the hand," Henning says.
Brigitte was one of the founding members of The Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver, a non-profit organization that promotes an appreciation and understanding of contemporary art. She and Henning choose all the artworks they purchase and do not use a buyer. Decisions are made together in unanimity. "It's a labour of passion, meaning we'll come across something and one of us will say, 'Oh, we gotta have it,' and if the other one is in agreement, then great. If the other one is not in agreement, then we step back."
WOOSH runs until Jan. 16. The second exhibit at Griffin Art Projects, which is also being curated by Pakasaar, is set to open at the end of February.
