Just-released book The Place of Objects captures the extensive collection of John David Lawrence

Publication with corresponding Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition highlights the rich stories and cultural importance of B.C.’s art scene

SPONSORED POST BY Figure 1 Publishing

The Place of Objects: The John David Lawrence Collection.

The eclectically curated new book The Place of Objects: The John David Lawrence Collection reveals a kaleidoscopic portrait of the diverse talents working in and around B.C.’s art scene over the past four decades.

As a musician, performer, activist, and collector, John David Lawrence has long held an important, if underrecognized, position in Vancouver’s creative community. After settling in the city in the mid-1980s he participated in and advocated for performance spaces and artist-run centres, and has been the proprietor of DoDa Antiques since 2000.

Over several decades, Lawrence amassed an idiosyncratic personal collection that includes ceramics, Indigenous art, jewellery, folk art, photography, and plant life. Through the stories of some of these pieces—and of Lawrence himself—as well as extensive new photography of his holdings, The Place of Objects illuminates the rich cultural production that is often overlooked by Vancouver’s established artistic community.

The Place of Objects: The John David Lawrence Collection.

Released to coincide with a Vancouver Art Gallery exhibition of 300 ceramic works from Lawrence’s collection, The Place of Objects opens with an engrossing conversation between cultural historian Michael J. Prokopow and Lawrence. The second half of the book features texts by artists, scholars, friends, and curators who highlight objects of art with historical, cultural, or personal significance. The publication also includes a visual index of the objects in Lawrence’s collection.

The Place of Objects was edited by Prokopow and Vancouver Art Gallery assistant curator Stephanie Rebick. It is available online and locally in stores where books are sold.

For more information, visit Figure 1 Publishing.

Post sponsored by Figure 1 Publishing.

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