Stan Douglas Wins 2019 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts

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Stan Douglas (photo courtesy of Audain Art Museum)

Born in 1960 in Vancouver, Douglas graduated from what is now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in 1982. 

Douglas, whose art often examines the complexities of social reality and history, rose to international prominence in the 1990s.

He has had numerous solo exhibitions at prominent institutions worldwide, including the Württembergische Kunstverein and Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in Germany; the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; the Kestnergesellschaft in Hanover; and the Serpentine Gallery in London,

 Douglas was also selected for Documentas IX, X and XI and the Venice Biennales in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2018.

Douglas’ ongoing inquiry into technology’s role in image making and how it shapes the collective memory is reflected in his frequent references to the history of literature, cinema and music. Through reenactments of historical moments of social tension, Douglas often explores the “failed utopian” motif.

His pieces frequently challenge viewers to experience multiple moments in history and geography simultaneously, in order to reconcile the separate historical events into a new cohesive story of social struggle.

The Audain Prize was created in 2004. It was managed by the Audain Foundation and later by the Vancouver Art Gallery. As of this year, it is overseen by the Audain Art Museum, the gallery Michael Audain built in Whistler, B.C. to house his art collection.

The foundation also announced $7,500 travel grants for five post-secondary visual arts students in British Columbia.

Douglas was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award in 2007, the Bell Award in Video Art in 2008, the Infinity Award for Art from the International Center of Photography in 2012, the Scotia Bank Photography Award in 2013, and the Hasselblad Award in 2016.

Works by Stan Douglas are held in the collection of the National Gallery of Canada; the Vancouver Art Gallery; the Art Gallery of Ontario; Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; the Israel Museum in Jerusalem; the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art in New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York; the Tate Gallery in London; and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Source: Audain Art Museum