Featured Artist: Reece Terris

The Western Front Front: Another False Front is a fascinating public art project by Canadian multi media artist Reece Terris.  It is exemplative of his ambitious work effort as well as his conceptual ingenuity.  The project also offers excellent insight on how he might approach his work on the upcoming Catagenesis Exhibition.

Terris' project revolves around false fronts, facades which were historically used to create a more impressive and established feeling in what were then (mid 1800s) very freshly constructed boomtowns.  In an interview with Exhibition Coordinator Mandy Ginson, Terris says "the project speaks to the past and present use of architecture as a means to communicate broader cultural values and aspirations."  Reece connects boomtown architecture and the 2010 real estate upturn in his home of Vancouver, B.C. 

Terris'  association with the original false fronts are as corporeal as they are ideological.  He created an enormous facade to lengthen the bravado of the first.  This was no small feat, and surely Terris' mountain climbing skills were suitable.  (Follow this link to watch a video of the false front being installed.)  Poignantly, the facade was installed for the duration of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and then shuffled into the cities architectural memory.

The potential parallels between this body of work, whats happening already at the Globe Dye Works and the Catagenesis Exhibition are strong.  It is quite thrilling to imagine what sort of feats Terris will embark on in his utilization of the heroic facility that is the Globe Dye Works.