February 16, 2010 | Tips from Us >
Vancouver, Art Galleries & Artists
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One of my Olympic must-do activities was seeing the Leonardo DaVinci exhibit, “The Mechanics of Man”, at the Vancouver Art Gallery. On Sunday a colleague and I checked things out and although the line-up was long – we waited about 45 minutes – seeing the exhibit was worth it for me.
DaVinci’s anatomical drawings of the human body are incredibly detailed and beautifully etched. They are on yellowed sheets of paper, standard notebook size, and I was surprised to see how intact they actually were. I learned that some drawings have not been surpassed to date and others were the first-known accurate depictions (like his drawing of the spinal column). Pretty amazing stuff!
On every drawing DaVinci made cramped notes in Latin, which are written in his favored “mirror-style” way (ie: backwards). Each drawing had an accompanying description that explained which parts of the body we were looking at, his drawing techniques and methods, as well as other interesting information (such as how he made some discoveries two centuries before anyone else did).
Larger replicas of some drawings are placed on the walls and offer closer observation. Also splashed across the walls are random quotes by DaVinci. Overall, the exhibit was pretty amazing – I’m sure both biology nerds and art lovers will love it – and clearly very fitting for the Olympics!
February 01, 2010 | Tips from Us >
Vancouver, Art Galleries & Artists
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Art’s popping up all over the place in Vancouver lately. Here are a few of my favorites:
A-Maze-ing Laughter: There are always people imitating these giant bronze sculptures’ poses while snapping pics. It’s so popular that the grass couldn’t handle the crowds and was recently replaced with bark mulch. A mystery fan even made Santa hats for the sculptures at Christmas.
Location: Corner of Davie and Denman, near English Bay
Monument for East Vancouver: It has people talking – isn’t that what art’s all about? A recognizable cross-shaped East Van symbol has been upgraded to giant public art status. Most impressive at night, when it’s lit up and tough to miss.
Location: At Clark and 6th Avenue
We, 2008: Nice in daytime, but incredible when darkness falls. That’s when it’s illuminated to create a glowing man made out of all the letters of the alphabet. It’s huge, too – step inside for a unique perspective (like my friend Jonathan Sparks did for the photo above).
Location: At Beach and Thurlow, near the Vancouver Aquatic Centre
Artificial Rock #143: Not everyone is a fan (I’ve heard it described as “God’s filling”), but I like it. It’s shiny, lumpy and outer-space-y, and contrasts with the straight lines of the downtown buildings.
Location: Corner of Granville and Georgia, near the Vancouver City Centre Canada Line station
Woodward’s W: Is this considered public art? It’s definitely a Vancouver icon – the neon Woodward’s W lit up the sky from 1944 to 1993, and now it’s back (with energy efficient bulbs).
Location: Woodward’s building, look up from Woodward's plaza near Abbott and Cordova