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April 23, 2010
A balance of darkness, light
The Downtown Eastside inspires the new exhibit at the Zack.
OLGA LIVSHIN
Some might think that the alleys of the Downtown Eastside are too gloomy a subject for art, but they would be wrong. Along with despair and pain, there is hope and compassion there, as demonstrated by Alley Ways, now on display at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery.
Artists Jeanne Krabbendam and Norm Chodirker are connected not only by their friendship and the common theme, but also by the place where they met: Coast Mental Health Resource Centre. Chodirker is a Coast client, while Krabbendam volunteers there once a week as an art teacher. Since 2004, they have painted together often, trusting each other’s critical eye and offering support and encouragement.
Chodirker lives and paints in Downtown Eastside. “I was always interested in art,” he said. As a fifth grader in his native Winnipeg, he won third place in a provincial art competition and, in 1984, graduated from Emily Carr College of Art and Design as a sculptor. He switched to painting in 2000 because sculptures take up too much space, and his apartment is tiny.
“I’m always happy when I paint,” he shared. Influenced by such artists as Jackson Pollock, Riopelle and Paul Klee, Chodirker paints all the time. He also often wanders through the alleys and back streets of the city, collecting objects that strike his fancy: old bags and rusted nails, fabric fragments and stretches of rope. He uses his finds in his paintings. “I don’t know what I can use and when. I just go through my collection, and something would give me ideas for new paintings.... I try to express relationships between color and texture, lines and forms.”
Balancing the hardships of Chodirker’s life, his paintings are remarkably bright, conveying the artist’s joy in his creativity. “Spring Explosion” is a riot of blue and green, where cuttings of discarded oilcloth bags blend seamlessly with the abstract composition. Another of his pieces, “Floaters,” sports strange celestial bodies floating in dazzlingly orange space. “I listen to my intuition,” he said.
Krabbendam’s path to Alley Ways couldn’t have been more different than her friend’s. She grew up in the Netherlands in a family far removed from artistic circles. When she was a schoolgirl, she enjoyed arts and crafts lessons and, early on, discovered the treasures of an art museum on her own. She also liked making beautiful things with her hands. “Any gift I gave to my friends, I made myself, often with materials I found,” she recalled. Once, she participated in a children’s drawing contest and was one of the winners. “She has talent,” the contest representative told her parents.
At 15, after training as a nurse, Krabbendam began working with sick children. “They felt better when we did some crafts together,” she said. Simultaneously, she took fine art classes and later received her degrees in art therapy and adult education, which allowed her to work as a licensed art therapist. She also taught art at various institutions in the Netherlands and raised her family at the same time – yet she constantly painted. “When you’re busy, you can always find time to do more,” she remarked with a smile.
Krabbendam likes to paint series, each one exploring a single theme from various angles. Fascinated by the ancient stones of Europe, she searched for stories of unusual people and centuries-old buildings. “Whenever I see such a place,” she explained, “I make up a story. I try to imagine who walked there, who touched those walls.”
In 1999, when she moved to Vancouver and dedicated herself to her art, she was appalled by how many people lived on the street. Because of her training as an art therapist, she noticed the shameful reality many Vancouverites choose to ignore. “I wanted to tell the stories of back alleys. These people, they are not there by choice. They are so bruised but they are also so beautiful.”
To help alleviate some of their suffering, Krabbendam started volunteering for Coast Mental Health, teaching art, organizing art shows and offering the gift of laughter. Her series Touched, exhibited at the Zack Gallery, tells the stories of her friends and students at Coast.
“There are hidden places in our rich cities, places we don’t show tourists,” she said. “This series is about such places, touched by the physical environment of rain and sun ... people’s hands and traffic. We all touch each other’s lives, so this series is also about how I’ve been touched by those places and people.... For many residents, those alleyways is where they live, it’s their bedroom, their wallpaper.”
Unlike Chodirker’s bright and vaguely primitivist pieces, Krabbendam’s abstract paintings are grim and deep; her palette predominantly dark, offsetting her vivacious personality. Still, hope lives in every painting. It peeks out as a spot of vivid turquoise in “Back Alley,” splashes blinding light through the darkness in “Touched” and manifests as struggling green grass in “Asphalt Green.” Hope is always there.
Olga Livshin is a Vancouver freelance writer. She is available for contract work. Contact her at [email protected].
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