WESTERN FRONT – Spots Before Your Eyes

Description:

Spots Before Your Eyes (1973) was a mural by Eric Metcalfe and Kate Craig that covered the façade of the Vancouver Art Gallery in leopard spots. Video documentation shows Metcalfe as Dr. Brute, Craig as Lady Brute, and assistants creating a preliminary outline of the pattern across the wall before filling in each leopard spot with black paint.

The installation was commissioned as part of Pacific Vibrations, a six-week festival presented by the Vancouver Art Gallery that featured exhibitions and performances by West Coast artists. Pacific Vibrations was organized by Marguerite Pinney and Willard Holmes.

A black and white image documenting a leopard print mural by Eric Metcalfe and Kate Craig that spans the facade of the Vancouver Art Gallery. A canopy made from woven video tapes by Evelyn Roth hands above the stairs at the entrance to the gallery.

Captions:

Eric Metcalfe, Kate Craig, and assistants producing Spots Before Your Eyes at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Sep 11, 1973. 30 min. 4 sec.
Eric Metcalfe and Kate Craig, Spots Before Your Eyes (1973).

Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.

We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.