Eric Metcalfe (RCA) epitomizes the avant-garde in Canadian art. Since the late 1960s, his art practice has crossed, and merged, disciplines: painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, printmaking, performance, video and film. His work has close ties with conceptual art and the Fluxus movement, which focused on the many intersections and blendings of different artistic media and disciplines, as well as contemporary cultural activities, especially jazz, which was an early interest and an important influence on Metcalfe. Born in Vancouver in 1940, Eric Metcalfe grew up in Victoria and was exposed to his lifelong passions of art and jazz as a boy. His first public show was in 1966, and in 1973, he co-founded Western Front, a pioneering, artist-run centre in Vancouver. In 1973, Eric (as his alter ego Dr. Brute) first painted the exterior of the Vancouver Art Gallery in his signature leopard spots as part of the Pacific Vibrations exhibitions.
Metcalfe has a BFA (Visual Arts) with Distinction from the University of Victoria (1970); he has taught at the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, at the University of British Columbia (as visiting artist), and through the Vancouver School Board. Metcalfe has received the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton award In 2000, The Audian Award in 2006 and the Governor General’s award in 2008. Last year, Eric also received an Honorary Doctorate from Emily Carr University. 2010, Eric was commissioned by the Cultural Olympiad to work with American composer George Lewis to create an interactive sculptural sound installation. Façade Festival 2016 will be Eric’s second involvement with Burrard Arts Foundation; in 2014 he created a mural, titled Stellar, located at 1030 West Georgia Street. Eric Metcalfe lives in Vancouver.
2022 Ceramics
Created in collaboration with Gillian Mcmillan
Past Shows
November 2021
Pop Anthropology a solo show at the University of Victoria’s Legacy Gallery, curated by Dorian Jesse Fraser and Caroline Reidel