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The Crooked Path - The Art of Jeff Wall, Part 1

Jeff Wall's striking large-scale, photographic artworks exude complex, dramatic power. Often presented as transparencies in light-boxes, his works are owned by most significant art institutions and collectors. Vancouver-based Wall has been instrumental in moving the photographic image to a central place in contemporary art practice. His contributions have secured him a place in art history. In The Crooked Path,...

Part 1 airs Monday, August 11 & Part 2 airs Monday, August 18

Jeff Wall's striking large-scale, photographic artworks exude complex, dramatic power. Often presented as transparencies in light-boxes, his works are owned by most significant art institutions and collectors. Vancouver-based Wall has been instrumental in moving the photographic image to a central place in contemporary art practice. His contributions have secured him a place in art history. In The Crooked Path, curator Ann Pollock explores with Wall his remarkable career trajectory. Part 2 airs Monday, August 18.


Participants in the series

Jeff Wall - Artist

Ann Pollock - Art Curator, Writer, Independent Broadcaster

Hans De Wolf - Editor of The Crooked Path published by BOZAR Books, Ludion, Brussels

Jöel Benzakin - Independent Curator for The Crooked Path exhibition, Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels (aka BOZAR)

Sarah Milroy - Writer and Art Critic, former editor of Canadian Art Magazine, contributor to The Globe and Mail newspaper

Claudia Beck - collector, owner (until 1981) of the Nova Gallery, a commercial photography gallery in Vancouver

Andrew Gruft - collector, architect, owner (until 1981) of the Nova Gallery, a commercial photography gallery in Vancouver


The Art of Jeff Wall

1. The Crooked Path, 1991, transparency in lightbox, 119 x 149 cm. Courtesy of the artist.


1_Jeff-Wall-The-Crooked-Pat.jpg

2. The Destroyed Room, 1978, transparency in lightbox, 159 x 229 cm. Courtesy of the artist.



2_Jeff-Wall-The-Destroyed-R.jpg

3. Picture for Women, 1979, transparency in lightbox, 142.5 x 204.5 cm. Courtesy of the artist.



3_Jeff Wall Picture for Women 1979.jpg

4. Installation view of transparencies in lightboxes by Jeff Wall


4b_wall_Lightbox.Installati.jpg

5. Boy falls from tree, 2010, colour photograph, 305.3 x 226 cm. Courtesy of the artist.



5_Jeff Wall Boy falls from tree 2010.jpg

6. After 'Spring Snow', by Yukio Mishima, chapter 34, 2000-2005, colour photograph, 63 x 74 cm. Courtesy of the artist.



6_Jeff Wall After 'Spring Snow', by Yukio Mishima, chapter 34 2000-2005.jpg

7.  Boxing, 2011, colour photograph, 215 x 295 cm. Courtesy of the artist.


7_Jeff Wall Boxing 2011.jpg


8. The Storyteller, 1986, transparency in lightbox, 229 x 437 cm. Courtesy of the artist.


8_Jeff Wall The Storyteller 1986.jpg

9. Dead Troops Talk (a vision after an ambush of a Red Army patrol, near Moqor, Afghanistan, winter 1986), 1992, transparency in lightbox, 229 x 417 cm. Courtesy of the artist.


9_Jeff-Wall-Dead-Troops-Tal.jpg

10. Band & crowd, 2011, colour photograph, 229 x 420 cm. Courtesy of the artist.


10_Jeff Wall Band & crowd 2011.jpg

11. The Flooded Grave, 1998 - 2000, transparency in lightbox, 228.6 x 282 cm. Courtesy of the artist.


11_Jeff Wall The Flooded Grave 1998 - 2000.jpg


Related Websites


  • Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez, 1656, oil on canvas, collection Prado, Madrid




  • Le déjeuner sur l'herbe [Luncheon on the Grass] by Edouard Manet, 1863, oil on canvas, collection Musée d'Orsay, Paris


Reading List

Jeff Wall, The Crooked Path, Ed. by Hans de Wolf, hardback, 255 pages, English.
Published 2011 by BOZAR BOOKS, Ludion.

Jeff Wall: The Complete Edition, hardback and paperback, 212 pages, English.
Survey by Thierry de Duve, Update by Jean-François Chevrier, Interview by Arielle Pelenc, Focus by Boris Groys, Artist's Choice by Blaise Pascal and Franz Kafka, Writings by Jeff Wall. Published 2010 by Phaidon.
       
Jeff Wall by Craig Burnett, paperback, 128 pages, English. Published 2006 by Tate Gallery (first published 2005).

Jeff Wall, Visibility, paperback, 248 pages, Hebrew/English. Published 2013 by Tel Aviv Museum of Art.