Bevan Ramsay

Trinity

2012

As spouses and artistic collaborators Nicholas and Sheila Pye take both a delicate and dangerous look at married life. Working in performance, film, video, installation and photogra...

My latest project, Modern Girl, extrapolates upon past themes of commercialism and identity within Western culture by creating reimagined ad campaigns based upon the famous “pin-up girl” advertising posters of 1930s Shanghai, China. This era heralded the emergence of Asian women as individuals, as they began to break away from Confucius tradition that demanded total filial piety alongside crippling beauty practices like foot binding. However, while an expression of gender emancipation, the posters sowed the seeds of a new form of exploitation: the use of the female form to sell consumer products. I grew up in Vancouver — regarded as the gateway to the East. It has experienced unprecedented immigration from Hong Kong and China in the past 35 years, turning this once provincial community into a vibrant Asian metropolis. The impact of Asian culture has been profound, not only on the city but on me as an individual and artist. I have come to love Asian film and literature such as Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Gish Jen’s Mona in the Promised Land. Such works explore the immigrant experience, something that resonates with my own experiences emigrating from Israel in childhood. Learning to fit in was stressful, however, I realized that the challenges facing my young Asian friends in Vancouver were even greater. They were torn between familial demands of obedience and academic achievement — in opposition to the Western ideals of self-expression and individualism. The ‘Modern Girl’ image first appeared in the West and was notable for its bold sexuality, with scantily clad women selling everything from clothing, soap and cigarettes to army recruitment. Chinese pin...

My latest project, Modern Girl, extrapolates upon past themes of commercialism and identity within Western culture by creating reimagined ad campaigns based upon the famous “pin-up girl” advertising posters of 1930s Shanghai, China. This era heralded the emergence of Asian women as individuals, as they began to break away from Confucius tradition that demanded total filial piety alongside crippling beauty practices like foot binding. However, while an expression of gender emancipation, the posters sowed the seeds of a new form of exploitation: the use of the female form to sell consumer products. I grew up in Vancouver — regarded as the gateway to the East. It has experienced unprecedented immigration from Hong Kong and China in the past 35 years, turning this once provincial community into a vibrant Asian metropolis. The impact of Asian culture has been profound, not only on the city but on me as an individual and artist. I have come to love Asian film and literature such as Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Gish Jen’s Mona in the Promised Land. Such works explore the immigrant experience, something that resonates with my own experiences emigrating from Israel in childhood. Learning to fit in was stressful, however, I realized that the challenges facing my young Asian friends in Vancouver were even greater. They were torn between familial demands of obedience and academic achievement — in opposition to the Western ideals of self-expression and individualism. The ‘Modern Girl’ image first appeared in the West and was notable for its bold sexuality, with scantily clad women selling everything from clothing, soap and cigarettes to army recruitment. Chinese pin...

My latest project, Modern Girl, extrapolates upon past themes of commercialism and identity within Western culture by creating reimagined ad campaigns based upon the famous “pin-up girl” advertising posters of 1930s Shanghai, China. This era heralded the emergence of Asian women as individuals, as they began to break away from Confucius tradition that demanded total filial piety alongside crippling beauty practices like foot binding. However, while an expression of gender emancipation, the posters sowed the seeds of a new form of exploitation: the use of the female form to sell consumer products. I grew up in Vancouver — regarded as the gateway to the East. It has experienced unprecedented immigration from Hong Kong and China in the past 35 years, turning this once provincial community into a vibrant Asian metropolis. The impact of Asian culture has been profound, not only on the city but on me as an individual and artist. I have come to love Asian film and literature such as Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Gish Jen’s Mona in the Promised Land. Such works explore the immigrant experience, something that resonates with my own experiences emigrating from Israel in childhood. Learning to fit in was stressful, however, I realized that the challenges facing my young Asian friends in Vancouver were even greater. They were torn between familial demands of obedience and academic achievement — in opposition to the Western ideals of self-expression and individualism. The ‘Modern Girl’ image first appeared in the West and was notable for its bold sexuality, with scantily clad women selling everything from clothing, soap and cigarettes to army recruitment. Chinese pin...

My latest project, Modern Girl, extrapolates upon past themes of commercialism and identity within Western culture by creating reimagined ad campaigns based upon the famous “pin-up girl” advertising posters of 1930s Shanghai, China. This era heralded the emergence of Asian women as individuals, as they began to break away from Confucius tradition that demanded total filial piety alongside crippling beauty practices like foot binding. However, while an expression of gender emancipation, the posters sowed the seeds of a new form of exploitation: the use of the female form to sell consumer products. I grew up in Vancouver — regarded as the gateway to the East. It has experienced unprecedented immigration from Hong Kong and China in the past 35 years, turning this once provincial community into a vibrant Asian metropolis. The impact of Asian culture has been profound, not only on the city but on me as an individual and artist. I have come to love Asian film and literature such as Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Gish Jen’s Mona in the Promised Land. Such works explore the immigrant experience, something that resonates with my own experiences emigrating from Israel in childhood. Learning to fit in was stressful, however, I realized that the challenges facing my young Asian friends in Vancouver were even greater. They were torn between familial demands of obedience and academic achievement — in opposition to the Western ideals of self-expression and individualism. The ‘Modern Girl’ image first appeared in the West and was notable for its bold sexuality, with scantily clad women selling everything from clothing, soap and cigarettes to army recruitment. Chinese pin...

My latest project, Modern Girl, extrapolates upon past themes of commercialism and identity within Western culture by creating reimagined ad campaigns based upon the famous “pin-up girl” advertising posters of 1930s Shanghai, China. This era heralded the emergence of Asian women as individuals, as they began to break away from Confucius tradition that demanded total filial piety alongside crippling beauty practices like foot binding. However, while an expression of gender emancipation, the posters sowed the seeds of a new form of exploitation: the use of the female form to sell consumer products. I grew up in Vancouver — regarded as the gateway to the East. It has experienced unprecedented immigration from Hong Kong and China in the past 35 years, turning this once provincial community into a vibrant Asian metropolis. The impact of Asian culture has been profound, not only on the city but on me as an individual and artist. I have come to love Asian film and literature such as Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior and Gish Jen’s Mona in the Promised Land. Such works explore the immigrant experience, something that resonates with my own experiences emigrating from Israel in childhood. Learning to fit in was stressful, however, I realized that the challenges facing my young Asian friends in Vancouver were even greater. They were torn between familial demands of obedience and academic achievement — in opposition to the Western ideals of self-expression and individualism. The ‘Modern Girl’ image first appeared in the West and was notable for its bold sexuality, with scantily clad women selling everything from clothing, soap and cigarettes to army recruitment. Chinese pin...

Moving in Together (Till Death do us Part) - Installation - 2008 Edition of 5. 16 analog C-Prints , hand-printed by the artist on Fuji Crystal Archive Paper, based on 13 Polaroids, ...

Vintage b/w Photo realized in 1976.

Vintage Portrait of Betsy Drake, realized in 1950s.

Vintage Photo. Jack Nicholson accepts his Oscar as Best Actor for his part in "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest".

Vintage b/w photo of John Wayne, realized in the late 1960s.

Vintage Photo. Dedication of the John Wayne Elementary School. New York