In Durations, Tristan Unrau uses the format of a fair booth to stage an encounter between various moments across art history. The pictures interact as actors or props, influencing or uncovering different aspects of each other’s character. Unrau employs these “actors” as a way of asking what a pictoral impulse might be. We are reminded that creative activity has the capacity not only to create material objects but also the potential to remake a world.
Tristan Unrau (b. 1989, Canada) holds an MFA from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a BFA from Emily Carr University of Art + Design. Unrau was a 2013 resident at the Banff Centre, and in 2015, 2017 and 2018 was a finalist for the Royal Bank of Canada Painting Competition. Unrau has held recent solo shows at Phil Gallery (Los Angeles), Towards (Toronto) and Unit 17 (Vancouver). His work has been included in group exhibitions at The Power Plant (Toronto), Vancouver Art Gallery as well as Clint Roenisch (Toronto). Unrau lives and works in Los Angeles, and Roberts Creek, BC.
