Canadian artist Rodney Graham looks on a mirror with a picture of himself during his exhibition entitled 'Through the Forest' at Kunstmuseum Basel (Museum of Contemporary Art) in Basel, Switzerland. EPA/GEORGIOS KEFALAS.
 

VANCOUVER, BC.- British Columbia’s most prestigious annual awards for the visual arts, the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts and the VIVA Awards, will be presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery on May 5, 2011 at 7pm. The 8th annual Audain Prize, awarded by the Audain Foundation for the Visual Arts, will go to acclaimed artist Rodney Graham. Vancouver artists Reece Terris and Althea Thauberger are the 2011 recipients of the VIVA Award prizes granted annually by the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation.

Based in Vancouver , Rodney Graham has been internationally recognized as one of the most original artists of his generation. Drawing upon diverse sources that range from Lewis Carroll and Sigmund Freud to Kurt Cobain, Graham synthesizes conceptual rigour and humour to produce art that is both captivating and paradoxical. Graham’s work is in the permanent collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery and was featured in the 2005 exhibition Rodney Graham: A Little Thought, which toured internationally. His photo-based works can be found in a number of public collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art , the Centre Georges Pompidou, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Solo exhibitions include a retrospective in 2004-05 that toured North American venues as well as a European touring exhibition in 2002. He has participated in landmark exhibitions, representing Canada at the Venice Biennale in 1997, and exhibiting at Documenta IX in 1992 and at Sculpture Project Muenster in 1987.

The recipients of the 2011 VIVA Awards, presented by the Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation for the Visual Arts to recognize BC artists who demonstrate exceptional creative ability and commitment, are Reece Terris and Althea Thauberger. Often working with the characteristics of a specific site, Terris alters the experiential qualities of a place or object through an amplification or shift in the primary function of its original design. Thauberger uses film, video, performance and photography to focus on popular culture and the myriad ways it shapes self-expression and identity. Terris and Thauberger are based in Vancouver.

The Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts and the VIVA Awards will be presented at the Vancouver Art Gallery on May 5 at 7pm, with a reception following. The event is free of charge and open to the public.