This is the first extensive survey catalogue of the work of Vancouver-based artist Ian Wallace – a key figure of the extraordinary artistic ferment in the Canadian city of Vancouver, a pioneer and theorist of its internationally regarded tradition of photo-conceptualism, and a teacher and colleague of such luminaries as Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, and Stan Douglas. Energized by the dialectic tensions between monochrome painting and documentary or staged photography, between the emblematic sites of street, studio and nature, Wallace’s practice fosters engagement with the persistent impulses of vanguard modernism.

A distinguished company of European thinkers, curators and critics have been invited to consider Wallace’s art, inspirations, and influence: Vanessa Joan Müller considers the persistence of the monochrome in the artist’s oeuvre; Dieter Roelstraete addresses the dialectics of street and studio; and the eminent French philosopher Jacques Rancière pursues his on-going meditation on the politics of aesthetics, which has had a strong influence on Wallace’s thinking about art. The indispensable reference includes extensive color reproductions, catalogue of exhibited works, a chronology, and thorough bibliographic information.

The publication is published on the occasion of the cooperation project Ian Wallace. A Literature of Images at the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf (October 19, 2008 – January 11, 2009), at the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam (November 8, 2008 – February 8, 2009) and at the Kunsthalle Zürich (November 15, 2008 – January 11, 2009). With texts by Renske Janssen, Vanessa Joan Müller, Jacques Rancière, Dieter Roelstraete, Beatrix Ruf, Nicolaus Schafhausen and Monika Szewczyk.

Ian Wallace. A Literature of Images, ed. by the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Düsseldorf, the Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam and the Kunsthalle Zürich, Berlin/New York (Sternberg Press) 2008.

Hardcover, 220 pages, in German and English.

ISBN 978-1-933128-51-1