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POTTERS
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Brendan Tang: RBC People’s Choice Award

By Melany Hallam

Brendan Tang of British Columbia was
announced as the winner of the 2nd Annual
RBC Emerging Artist People’s Choice Award
on Oct. 2, taking home a prize of $10,000.
‘The competition was presented by Ontario's
Gardiner Museum.

Besides Brendan, the other four contending
Canadian artists identified by the five-member
nominating committee were: Jason Holley,
N&Ald.; Sarah Lawless, B.C.; Janet Macpherson,
Ont.; and Julie Moon, Ont.

Brendan's work, a piece from his Manga
series,

Ormolu enters the dialogue on

and

globalization through a fabricated relationship

contemporary culture, technology,
between ceramic tradition (using the form of
Chinese Ming dynasty vessels) and techno-
Pop Art. The futuristic update of the Ming
vessels in this series recalls 18th century
French gilded ormolu, where historic Chinese
vessels were transformed into curiosity pieces
for aristocrats. But here, robotic prosthetics
inspired by anime (Japanese animation) and
manga (the beloved comics and picture novels
of Japan) subvert elitism with the accessibility

Brendan Tang and his competition piece: Manga Ormolu Ver. 5.0-K, 2011, ceramics and
mixed media.

of popularculture. Working with Asian cultural
elements highlights the evolving Western
experience of the “Orient.” This narrative is
personal: the hybridization of cultures mirrors
his identity as an ethnically-mixed Asian
Canadian. Brendan's family history is one of
successive generations shedding the markers
of ethnic identity in order to succeed in an
adopted country—within a few generations
this cultural filtration has spanned China,
India, Trinidad, Ireland and Canada.

Brendan was born in Dublin, Ireland,

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of Trinidadian parents and is a naturalized
citizen of Canada. Tang’s professional practice
has also taken him to India, Trinidad and
Japan. He has been a resident artist at the
Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic
Arts (Helena, Mont.) and participated in
an international residency at the European
Ceramic Work Centre (‘s-Hertogenbosch,
Netherlands) in 2011. Tang’s work has been
showcased at galleries and in printed and
online media. He has exhibited at the Seattle
Art Museum, the Musée d'art contemporain
de Montréal (as a Sobey Finalist 2010), and
Art Labor in Shanghai. For more on his work,
see: http://brendantang.com.

Asa part of the award process, each artist was
able to showcase their new works of ceramic
art specifically created for the competition.
This year, the exhibition of the nominated
artists’ work was on display at the Gardiner
Museum and on the museum’s website from
Sept. 4 to Oct. 7.

“Thousands of people voted for the RBC
Emerging Artists People’s Choice Award
this year and many hundreds took the
opportunity to comment on the artist of their
choice on our website. This award successfully
stimulates discussion about contemporary
ceramic art, and helps to raise the profile of
the nominated artists. We congratulate all
participating artists for being nominated and
Brendan Tang on his success,” said Alexandra
Montgomery, Executive Director of the
Gardiner Museum.

The Gardiner Museum bills

Canada’s national ceramics museum.

itself as
Its
collections span continents and time, giving
a glimpse into the development of ceramic
processes, decoration and form. See more on
the museum here: www.gardinermuseum.

on.ca/home @

Potters Guild of BC Newsletter - November 2042