Surrey, BC – Surrey Art Gallery is pleased to announce a new exhibit I Spy a City by Flavourcel animation collective on display at UrbanScreen until May 2, half an hour after sunset until midnight. UrbanScreen is the Gallery’s outdoor art projection site located on the west wall of Chuck Bailey Recreation Centre.
Riffing on the classic children’s game “I spy”, Flavourcel’s project captures different sights from across Whalley and the broader Surrey region in animated form.
Each member of the collective (consisting of eleven young artists from a variety of backgrounds) specializes in a different form of animation, including hand-drawn, digital, and even clay. The result is an eclectic mix of moving artworks with a mesmerizing effect.
Visitors to UrbanScreen are invited to “spy” the things that connect with them: nearby shop facades, local ingredients, Surrey wildlife, popular sports, and more.
Spinning SkyTrains soar over dancing streetlights, smashed skateboards, and swimming salmon, while pagodas, volleyball nets, and satellite dishes shiver and spin.
The coldness of concrete and metal contrasts with the warmth of parks, food, and nature. Working with rotating and looping animations, Flavourcel seeks to create pockets of life and connection within the social context of Surrey.
Over the course of the exhibition, different members of the collective will re-mix I Spy a City, adding new animations while reconfiguring others, ensuring that there will be plenty of surprises in store for repeat visitors to UrbanScreen.
The selected animations cover a range of style and content, all connected in their charming, surreal, or cerebral imagining of micro narratives, fantastic characters, and surprising re-configurations of ordinary materials and processes.
“True to their name, Flavourcel offers up a sumptuous feast for the eyes,” says Assistant Curator Rhys Edwards. “Surrey Art Gallery is delighted to showcase the extraordinary talent of these young artists. Their creative energy is boundless, and it’s on full display in I Spy a City.”
In conjunction with the exhibit, Surrey Art Gallery will release a series of free instructional videos as part of its Art Together series of art programming. Members of Flavourcel will show viewers how to make their own animations at home, including one-frame loops, basic digital animations, and traditional pencil and paper animation.
These videos will be shared on Surrey Art Gallery’s social media. The first has just been released—“Wire-frame Animation with Julia Song”—and can be watched on the Gallery’s YouTube channel.
Other exhibits at Surrey Art Gallery include Facing Time, an exploration of the human face (ends March 27), Art by Surrey Secondary Students, local youth display their talents (ends April 30), and Yam Lau: Hutong House, a meditative video installation on home, friendship, and time (ends May 30).
About the Artist
Flavourcel is an animation collective based in the unceded Coast Salish territories. Born out of a desire to break down the institutional barriers that limit animators and introduce play into their work, Flavourcel produces experimental animations in a variety of styles.
From hand-drawn cell-shading to digital doodles, music videos, and gifs, each artist pushes the boundaries of the medium and challenges the preconceptions of how animated art should be made.
Flavourcel includes Harlo Martens, Kat Morris, Josh Neu, Julia Song, Alia Hijaab, Chhaya Naran, Gil Goletski, Laurel Pucker, Lana Connors, and Chris Strickler.
About Surrey Art Gallery
Internationally recognized for its award-winning programs, Surrey Art Gallery, located at 13750 88 Avenue in Surrey on the unceded territories of the Salish Peoples, including the q̓ic̓əy̓ (Katzie), q̓ʷɑ:n̓ƛ̓ən̓ (Kwantlen), and Semiahma (Semiahmoo) nations, is the second largest public art museum in Metro Vancouver.
Founded in 1975, the Gallery presents contemporary art by local, national, and international artists, including digital and audio art. Its extensive public programs for children through to adults aim to engage the public in an ongoing conversation about issues and ideas that affect our communities and to provide opportunities to interact with artists and the artistic process. Admission is free.
Surrey Art Gallery gratefully acknowledges the financial assistance of the City of Surrey, Province of BC through BC Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and the Surrey Art Gallery Association.
Surrey Art Gallery will continue to present Art Together, a series of online programs that began in March 2020 and explore art and artists in the community, spark the imagination, and celebrate the ways that art can impact our lives.
Visit our website, follow us on Facebook and Instagram, and subscribe to our YouTube channel. surrey.ca/artgallery
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