{{short description|Canadian artist (born 1967)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox artist | name = Geoffrey Farmer | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1967}} | birth_place = Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | spouse = | field = | training = San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, USA (1991); Emily Carr University, Vancouver (1992)
| movement = | works = | patrons = | awards = | elected = | known_for = Installation artist
}} '''Geoffrey Farmer''' (born 1967) is best known for extensive multimedia installations made of cut-out images which form collages.<ref>{{cite web |title=Geoffrey Farmer |url=https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/8165/2016-exhibitions |website=www.e-flux.com |publisher=The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, 2016 |access-date=2021-07-31}}</ref>
==Early career== Farmer was born at St. Paul's Hospital in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1967 and grew up in the Dundarave neighbourhood of West Vancouver, British Columbia. His career as an artist was unplanned, but he attended an art class with his sister when he was 21 and became interested.<ref>{{cite web |title=Who is Geoffrey Farmer |url=https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/geoffrey-farmer-10350/who-is-geoffrey-farmer |website=www.tate.org.uk |publisher=The Tate Gallery, England |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> He received his art training at the San Francisco Art Institute (1991–1992) and Emily Carr University (1993).<ref>{{cite web |title=Geoffrey Farmer |url=http://ccca.concordia.ca/cv/english/farmer-cv.html |website=ccca.concordia.ca |publisher=Concordia University, Montreal |access-date=2021-08-01}}</ref>
==Art practice== Geoffrey Farmer creates installation-based artworks to create intersections of personal and lived experiences.<ref name="e-flux " >{{cite web |title=Geoffrey Farmer |url=https://www.e-flux.com/announcements/155136/geoffrey-farmer-s-a-way-out-of-the-mirror-an-enormous-success-at-the-venice-biennale-2017 |website=www.e-flux.com |publisher=e-flux |access-date=2021-08-03}}</ref> He uses a combination of a broad range of elements,<ref>[http://www.wdw.nl/project.php?id=168 Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080526011458/http://www.wdw.nl/project.php?id=168 |date=2008-05-26 }} Retrieved November 16, 2010</ref> including: drawing, photography, video, sculpture, performance, found materials, and sometimes sound, bronze casting and waterworks.<ref name="e-flux " /> His work offers a subtle take on the legacies of minimalist and postminimalist art. Minimalism emphasized the artwork's ability to instill in the viewer a powerful sense of their own presence; Farmer's work begins with this idea of the art gallery as a site of phenomenological experience. Postminimalism represents a refinement of minimalism in the way it emphasizes the role the gallery context plays in creating the meaning of an artwork. Farmer adds to both traditions by focusing on the nature of meaning itself, emphasizing its fragility. He devises ways of fostering engagement with his work. Whereas minimalist artists, such as Donald Judd and Dan Flavin, were said by art critic Michael Fried to theatricalize the gallery-going experience, Farmer uses the idioms of theatre and performance as analogies of the process of meaning. This places him within the international trend, in which "installation art is a theatrical set without a stage play to give it meaning." For instance, Farmer's piece ''Hunchback Kit (2000-7'' at the Tate<ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/theworldasastage/geoffrey_farmer.shtm Tate online] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218070558/http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/theworldasastage/geoffrey_farmer.shtm |date=2010-12-18 }} Retrieved November 16, 2010</ref> uses a hard shell case with custom foam insert to house props for staging performances of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Farmer creates the art exhibition as a set of components made available for the viewer's interpretation. In this process, he casts himself in the role of the 'artist', continuing to add to and transform an exhibition during the time it is on view. In ''For Every Jetliner Used in an Artwork…'' (2006), for instance, Farmer presented a video in the exhibition of himself working to alter an installation during the night while the show is closed. By explicitly portraying the exhibition as being 'in process', Farmer ensures that "a degree of openness and instability is built in to his work."<ref>[http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/geoffrey_farmer/ Frieze.com] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110224213449/http://www.frieze.com/issue/review/geoffrey_farmer/ |date=2011-02-24 }} Retrieved November 15, 2010</ref> According to Mark Clintberg writing in ''The Drawing Room, London'' for Canadian Art International Farmer's work ''The Last Two Million Years'' (2007), takes the ephemerality of time as its theme, making small delicate sculptures from the pages of an Encyclopedia.<ref>[http://www.canadianart.ca/art/intl/2007/12/01/geoffrey-farmer/ Mark Clintberg, Canadian Art International] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110127131625/http://www.canadianart.ca/art/intl/2007/12/01/geoffrey-farmer/ |date=2011-01-27 }} Retrieved November 16, 2010</ref> Creating hybrid figurative objects out of disparate historical time periods, Farmer undoes the fixity of museum display and the agreed sequence of historical events.
In ''A Way Out of the Mirror'' (2017), he added bronze casting and waterworks to the list of materials he uses and transformed the site into an open-air stage.<ref name="e-flux " />
==Work== His first figurative work was ''Trailer'' (2002), a large reproduction of a transport truck’s trailer, part reality (dirt covers the surface, and mud is splattered across the gas tank) and part artifice (the trailer looks like a movie prop).<ref name=" Zimonjic " >{{cite web |last1=Zimonjic |first1=Peter |title=Making the Personal Universal: Geoffrey Farmer at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Magazine, June 11, 2015 |url=https://www.gallery.ca/magazine/your-collection/making-the-personal-universal-geoffrey-farmer-at-the-vancouver-art-gallery |website=www.gallery.ca |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=2021-08-01}}</ref> He followed this with many figurative works such as The Last Two Million Years (2007), ''The Idea and the Absence of the Idea'' (2008), ''The Surgeon and the Photographer'' (2009) (Vancouver Art Gallery), made of 365 three-dimensional collages, and ''Leaves of Grass'' (2012) (National Gallery of Canada), an installation 124 feet long, of more than 15,000 images cut from 50 years of ''Life'' magazine, arranged chronologically on stalks of dried grass.<ref>{{cite web |title=Leaves of Grass by Geoffrey Farmer |url=https://www.frameweb.com/article/leaves-of-grass-by-geoffrey-farmer |website=www.frameweb.com |publisher=Frame |access-date=2021-08-01}}</ref> He viewed ''The Surgeon and the Photographer'', along with ''The Last Two Million Years'' (2007) and ''Leaves of Grass'' (2012) as a trilogy of installations, based on the accumulation of images.<ref>{{cite web |title=Geoffrey Farmer: The Surgeon and the Photographer |url=https://150ans150oeuvres.uqam.ca/en/artwork/2013-the-surgeon-and-the-photographer-by-geoffrey-farmer/#description |website=150ans150oeuvres.uqam.ca |publisher=UQAM |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref>
==Exhibitions== Farmer's first group exhibition took place in 1995 in Mexico. His first solo exhibition took place in Vancouver at Or Gallery. Since then, his exhibition history has been extensive, with shows nationally, and abroad. For dOCUMENTA (13) in 2012,<ref>{{cite web |title=Artists exhibited |url=https://universes.art/en/documenta/2012/documenta-13-artists |website=universes.art |publisher=dOCUMENTA (13) |access-date=2021-08-01}}</ref> Farmer produced ''Leaves of Grass''. In 2015, he had a large mid-career retrospective co-curated by himself and Daina Augaitis at the Vancouver Art Gallery in which he used items from the Gallery’s artist archives to create installations that filled the entire gallery space. The exhibition was titled ''How Do I Fit This Ghost in My Mouth''. In 2017, he represented Canada at the 57th Venice Biennale, in Venice with a show titled ''A Way Out of the Mirror''.<ref>{{cite web |title=Canada - Geoffrey Farmer - A Way Out Of The Mirror - Venice Biennale 2017 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqHr3-3Hl68 |website=www.youtube.com |publisher=National Gallery of Canada |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> In 2017, he also had a show titled ''The Care With Which The Rain Is Wrong'', at the Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, Germany in which he used art monographs and his own digital library of illustrations and collection of sounds for his installations.<ref>{{cite web |title=Geoffrey Farmer: The Care With Which The Rain Is Wrong |url=https://www.schinkelpavillon.de/exhibition/the-care-with-which-the-rain-is-wrong |website=www.schinkelpavillon.de |publisher=Schinkel Pavilion, Berlin |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> In 2024, the exhibition ''Geoffrey Farmer: The Sound of Footsteps as Summer Walks Away'' was shown at the West Vancouver Art Museum.<ref>{{cite web |title=Exhibitions |url=https://westvancouverartmuseum.ca/exhibitions/geoffrey-farmer-sound-footsteps-summer-walks-away |website=westvancouverartmuseum.ca |publisher=West Vancouver Art Museum |access-date=14 December 2024}}</ref> He is represented by Catriona Jeffries, Vancouver.
==Public art projects== *''Every Letter in the Alphabet'', Vancouver (2009)<ref name="Peck " >{{cite web |last1=Peck |first1=Aaron |title=Geoffrey Farmer |url=https://www.artforum.com/picks/geoffrey-farmer-26431 |website=www.artforum.com |date=16 September 2010 |publisher=artforum |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> This was a year-long project commissioned for the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver. Farmer's ''Every Letter in the Alphabet'' (2010) was located in a storefront space in the city. He commissioned twenty-six language-based works, one for every letter of the alphabet, including readings performances and poster projects to appear in the space, and throughout the city, during 2009–2010.<ref name="Peck " />
==Residencies== * ''Theatre of Erosion'' or ''I Hate Work That is Not a Play'', lead faculty, The Banff Centre, Banff, Canada (2010) <ref>{{cite web |title=The CAFAD Newsletter |url=https://cafad.ca/pdfs/Newsletters/cafnews_Sept2010.pdf |website=cafad.ca |publisher=CAFAD |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> * Kadist Art Foundation, Paris, France (2011)<ref>{{cite web |title=Geoffrey Farmer |url=https://kadist.org/program/geoffrey-farmer |website=kadist.org |publisher=Kadish Art Foundation |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> *''Below Another Sky'', commissioned by the Scottish Print Network, Edinburgh Printmakers, Edinburgh, Scotland (2014)<ref>{{cite web |title=Below Another Sky |url=https://www.edinburghprintmakers.co.uk/bas-residencies |website=www.edinburghprintmakers.co.uk |publisher=Edinburgh Printmakers, UK |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref>
==Awards== *Viva Award, Jack and Doris Shadbolt Foundation for the Visual Arts, Vancouver, Canada (2003)<ref>{{cite web |title=B.C. ARTISTS RECEIVE $10,000 CASH AWARDS |url=https://www.shadboltfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/2003-VIVA-Press-Release.pdf |website=www.shadboltfoundation.org |publisher=Shadbolt Foundation |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> * Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award, Visual Arts, Canada Council for the Arts (2008)<ref>{{cite web |title=Canada Council announces winners of the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Awards |url=https://www.canada.ca/en/news/archive/2008/12/canada-council-announces-winners-victor-martyn-lynch-staunton-awards.html |website=www.canada.ca |date=16 December 2008 |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> * The Hnatshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award (2011)<ref>{{cite web |title=HNATYSHYN FOUNDATION VISUAL ARTS AWARDS 2011 RECIPIENTS |url=https://www.rjhf.com/archives/archives-en/varecip-e11.html |website=www.rjhf.com |publisher=Hnatyshyn Foundation |access-date=2021-08-02}}</ref> * The Gershon Iskowitz Prize, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (2013) for his outstanding contribution to the visual arts in Canada<ref>{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=James |title=Geoffrey Farmer brings light and shadow, sound and silence to AGO |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/art-and-architecture/geoffrey-farmer-brings-light-and-shadow-sound-and-silence-to-ago/article19468227/ |access-date=2021-08-02 |publisher=Globe and Mail |date=2014}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title = Vancouver's Geoffrey Farmer wins prestigious art prize|url = http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/vancouver-s-geoffrey-farmer-wins-prestigious-art-prize-1.1400509|website = www.cbc.ca|accessdate = 2015-11-24|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20151213015448/http://www.cbc.ca/news/arts/vancouver-s-geoffrey-farmer-wins-prestigious-art-prize-1.1400509|archive-date = 2015-12-13|url-status = live}}</ref>
Farmer lives and works on Kauai, Hawaii, USA
== References == <!--- See Wikipedia:Footnotes on how to create references using<ref></ref> tags which will then appear here automatically --> {{Reflist}}
==Bibliography== * {{cite book |last1=Scott |first1=Kitty |last2=Farmer|first2=Geoffrey|title= Geoffrey Farmer: a way out of the mirror = une issue à travers ce miroir| date=2017 |publisher=National Gallery of Canada and Mousse Publishing |location=Ottawa and Milan|url=http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/afarmer%2C+geoffrey/afarmer+geoffrey/1%2C1%2C15%2CB/frameset&FF=afarmer+geoffrey+1967&15%2C%2C15 |access-date=2021-08-01}} * {{cite book |last1=Landry |first1=Pierre |last2=Morgan|first2=Jessica|last3=Watson|first3=Scott|title=Geffrey Farmer |date=2008 |publisher=Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal / ABC Art Books |location=Montreal|url=http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/afarmer%2C+geoffrey/afarmer+geoffrey/1%2C1%2C15%2CB/frameset&FF=afarmer+geoffrey+1967&6%2C%2C15 |access-date=2021-08-02}} * {{cite book |title=Geffrey Farmer |date=2008 |publisher=Witte de With |location=Rotterdam |url=http://library.gallery.ca/search~S1?/afarmer%2C+geoffrey/afarmer+geoffrey/1%2C1%2C15%2CB/frameset&FF=afarmer+geoffrey+1967&7%2C%2C15 |access-date=2021-08-02}}
==External links== *[http://catrionajeffries.com/wp-content/uploads/cv/Geoffrey_Farmer_CV.pdf CV and bibliography, pdf] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161215072608/http://catrionajeffries.com/wp-content/uploads/cv/Geoffrey_Farmer_CV.pdf |date=15 December 2016 }} * [http://catrionajeffries.com/artists/geoffrey-farmer/works/ Geoffrey Farmer at Catriona Jeffries Gallery] * [http://www.gallery.ca/english/2545_2593.htm Geoffrey Farmer at the National Gallery of Canada]{{dead link|date=January 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110727231518/http://www.macm.org/en/expositions/43.html Geoffrey Farmer at the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110127131625/http://www.canadianart.ca/art/intl/2007/12/01/geoffrey-farmer/ Geoffrey Farmer, ''Canadian Art'', Winter, 2007] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20131003045108/http://kadist.org/en/people/geoffrey-farmer Geoffrey Farmer] at Kadist Art Foundation
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Farmer, Geoffrey}} Category:1967 births Category:Living people Category:San Francisco Art Institute alumni Category:Canadian installation artists Category:Canadian contemporary artists Category:21st-century Canadian artists Category:Canadian multimedia artists