Brian Jungen, "Crux," installation at the Sydney Biennale, 2008

Brian Jungen will return to The Banff Centre this year, revisiting an institution and a landscape that has regenerated his practice since 1998.

Jungen, of Dunne-za First Nations and Swiss Canadian ancestry, is from Fort St. John in northeast British Columbia, and for the past 20 years has lived and worked in Vancouver. He has exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally, including solo exhibitions at Museum Villa Stuck, Munich (2007), Tate Modern, London (2006), Vancouver Art Gallery (2006), and New Museum, New York (2005), and in group exhibitions including the Sydney Biennale (2008) and Kwangju Biennale, Korea (2004). His exhibition Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort is currently at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C.

Transformation is key to understanding Jungen’s work. He first came to prominence with Prototypes for New Understanding (1998-2005), which refashioned Nike footwear into masks that evoke Northwest Coast iconography. Later works have included whale skeletons made from plastic chairs, totem poles shaped from golf bags, and a giant animal mobile constructed from hard-plastic luggage.

Jungen will be in residence at the Centre’s Leighton Artists’ Colony early in 2010 to create an outdoor sculpture for the Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation.

He spoke with the Centre’s director of Visual Arts, Kitty Scott.

Kitty Scott: When did you first come to The Banff Centre and what did you do here?

Brian Jungen: I first came to The Banff Centre in August 1998. I bought myself a residency of the “self-directed” brand offered then, as I had recently sold some work for the first time. I also received some money from my band from a land claim settlement, so I had the means to go and dedicate time in the studio. I wanted to try making objects as I had never made any before. I also wrote my first mid-career Canada Council grant at The Banff Centre during that summer. I was there for six weeks and made the first two Nike masks from the Prototype series.

KS: I have been thinking more deeply about what it means to retreat from the cities. Like most successful artists your work is shown in major museums and galleries in urban environments. What does it mean for an artist to make or think about work in a somewhat remote place such as The Banff Centre?

BJ: I have always had one foot in the city, and the other out in the bush somewhere. I haven’t met any contemporary artists who like paddling, camping, skiing, or hunting so I have other friends and family who I enjoy these activities with. I am at a place in my life now where I can’t see the sense in living in a city any longer, as most of my time is spent trying to get out of Vancouver. I am hoping to relocate in the next year to a rural environment. I don’t think young artists would do such a move as contemporary art is based in a handful of major international cities. The Banff Centre is the one place where artists can get out of the city yet still have a network and community to work within.

KS: Where do you usually work? What is a typical workday like?

BJ: In the studio I will read and look at images and articles online or in the books I order. Sometimes I draw images of buildings I want to build. When I am working onsite in a museum then I will be cutting up and rebuilding items like couches or garbage cans. I don’t think I have “workdays,” and if I do then I must be doing something wrong.

KS: You just worked with curator Paul Chaat Smith for your survey exhibition — Brian Jungen — at the National Museum of the American Indian. What were the highlights of this experience?

BJ: The highlight of working with Paul at the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) was the chance to show my work in a non-fine art context. More specifically it was interesting to show my work in a museum for and about the Indigenous experience.

KS: Can you compare the museum experience to that of showing in a large periodic show such as the Sydney Biennale?

BJ: After the NMAI show, I am retiring from museum exhibitions for 10 years. I am not fond of biennials so I imagine I will choose such invitations carefully as I am in no hurry to be part of the biennale pageantry. I want to be on the bottom of things for awhile.

Brian Jungen: Strange Comfort continues until August 2010 at the Smithsonian Institute National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to a generous donation by Doug and Linda Black, The Banff Centre has commissioned an outdoor sculpture by Brian Jungen for the Kinnear Centre for Creativity & Innovation. Doug Black is a Banff Centre Governor Emeritus and served as co-chair of the Campaign for The Banff Centre. Linda Black also served on the Campaign Cabinet and is a past chair of the Banff Midsummer Ball.