SUMMER SEVEN AT SOMA 2018

During July and August, South Main Gallery will engage Vancouverites with shows of current shakers in the local contemporary art world. On its second annual edition, Summer Seven at SoMa is more of an arts festival than an exhibition. The gallery will welcome cutting-edge creators from Vancouver and present their work in two-week shows throughout the Summer.

The festival will open with the works of Madison Tyrell, Mallory Donen, Marzieh Mosavarzadeh, and Sara Khan in a show called Neither Here Nor There on July 7, 2018. Through different mediums (oil on canvas, digital print, watercolor, lithograph, and embroidery) the artists explore the differences between handmade vs. digital; the dichotomy of repulsive vs. beautiful; and the bond between human-made structures vs. nature. 

Next, the first solo-show, Block Gardens will be by Mira Song (July 21 – August 3), an interdisciplinary artist based in Vancouver and Seoul, South Korea. Her practice deals with exploring specific natural and architectural spaces and reframing these spaces through the embodiment of a different set of senses, memories, and imagination. 

From August 4 to August 17, recently Emily Carr graduate Aman Aheer will present Are You My Mother? featuring a body of work created between 2017 and 2018, that began as a way to address questions about sacrifice and revolution, but ultimately grew into a series of intimate meditations on the metaphysical significance of martyrdom. 

Finally, the last solo-show will be by Heroes and Villains, by David B. Stewart (August 18 – August 31), who will present paintings from an ongoing series entitled “Heroes and Villains.” These works draw upon a diverse range of influences including neo-expressionism, cubism, and 19th Century realism. While the images borrow from different styles and inspirations to create their visual syntax, they connect by the appearance of a masked figure wearing a hat, who is the driving force behind the narratives and major thematic elements the work explores.

These are all thought-provoking exhibits not to be missed.