Vikky Alexander

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Vikky Alexander, “Obsession” (detail), 1983

silver gelatin print, vinyl type and coloured Plexiglas (collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, gift of the artist)

Vikky Alexander has long been obsessed with consumerism's imagery. The Vancouver Art Gallery’s retrospective of her photographs, collages and installations, Extreme Beauty, on view until Jan. 26, begins by exploring her early interest in appropriated images and their display.

In Obsession, for instance, Alexander offers 10 different views of supermodel Christie Brinkley. Back in the day, Brinkley’s image sold everything from cosmetics to milk. 

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Vikky Alexander, “Obsession,” 1983

silver gelatin prints, vinyl type and coloured Plexiglas (collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, gift of the artist, Dr. Doug Foster, Bill Jeffries and Ian Wallace)

Other celebrity images, clipped from magazines and cropped to remove advertising copy, are encased in black reflective boxes so viewers can see themselves as well. The mirrored image is a recurring device and figures prominently in Alexander’s desire to separate reality from the world of consumerism.

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Vikky Alexander, “Paris Showrooms: Gold Torso,” 2009

inkjet print on metallic paper (National Bank Art Collection)

Later in her career, she visited the world’s capitals and took her own pictures. Paris Showrooms: Gold Torso focuses on gleaming furniture as seen in a window display. But look more closely and you’ll see reflections of the street. 

“I want the outside to come in so that you see the ideal thing, but then what’s reflected is what’s going on in the real world,” says Alexander, who was based in Vancouver from 1992 to 2015, but now lives in Montreal.

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Vikky Alexander, “Model Suite: Overview,” 2005

transmounted chromogenic print, (courtesy of the artist and TrépanierBaer, Calgary)

Model Suite: Overview also probes the connection between artifice and reality. The furnishings are staged to promote an idealized lifestyle. And sales. It looks inviting but the skyline, as seen through the windows, is fake. The suite, after all, is at ground level, not up high. 

Alexander questions the idealization of nature in her photo mural, Lake of the Woods. A panel of mirrors sits on the other side. By standing in front of them, viewers can place themselves in the scene, thus examining their own relationship with nature. 

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Vikky Alexander, “Deer in the Wallace Collection,” 2013

inkjet print (courtesy of the artist and Wilding Cran Gallery, Los Angeles)

The artist returns to appropriated images, animal cut-outs and origami paper in collages such as Deer in the Wallace Collection. The collages are assembled by hand, glued and then scanned. 

Gradually, as Alexander explored her interest in architecture and design, she simplified how she worked. 

“I love process, but sometimes you can over-complicate things,” she says. “If it’s just about the architecture, do I really need all these other things?”

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Vikky Alexander, “Heike’s Room,” 2004

inkjet print on canvas (collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, gift of Robert G. Woods and Petra Tode-Woods)

Alexander’s most recent works, four site-specific floor-to-ceiling inkjet prints, are the simplest yet. Pleasing images of foliage or the ocean are bisected by faux-wood panels. 

“I made them more minimal and then I discovered this self-adhesive sticking paper,” she says.

The most abstract of all the work in the show, they are reminiscent of hard-edge paintings. Yet she’s still working with found objects, in this case wood-grain contact paper. ■

Vikky Alexander: Extreme Beauty is on view at the Vancouver Art Gallery from July 6, 2019 to Jan. 26, 2020.

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