44 » OpenRoad Driver
So , Bob , 21 exhibitions ! It ’ s been 21 exhibitions , 684 works displayed , and now 51 @ 51 is your final exhibition here at rennie museum . What did you want to accomplish with this particular farewell ?
First of all , thanks for doing this . The goal was to never have a title to a show , and then here we are with our last show , and the address is 51 East Pender . So , we came up with the idea of 51 works that have never been shown in Canada , and call it 51 @ 51 . And we ended up with 50 works that have never been shown in Canada .
Amazing . So , what does Wing Sang mean to you as a building , and what did Yip Sang mean as the person who built it in the late 1880s ?
Photos : Todd Duncan Photo Assistant : Dan Zubkoff
Yip Sang was a merchant . He ran a ship ’ s chandlery business and he brought over a number of immigrants from China . If you look at the legendary railway that runs from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean , there was one Chinese worker a day that died coming through the Rockies . Yet , when we put in the last spike , all photos were cleansed of Chinese workers . This Wing Sang building really suited the base of the art collection dealing with social justice , social injustice , not being seen , not being heard . Also , our staff just loved working out of the oldest building in Vancouver ’ s Chinatown .
It must be bittersweet leaving this location .
It is , but we ’ re always supposed to be growing . We ' ve had 21 shows here and 120-plus full-time employees that have really enjoyed the building . When we were first approached by the Chinese Canadian Museum , I said never . I wanted my grandchildren to come here and say , “ This is what Grampa did . He restored the oldest building in Vancouver ’ s Chinatown , and he gave back to the community .” But when you really stop and think , who should have the oldest building in Vancouver ’ s Chinatown ? It should be the Chinese Canadian Museum . I was the right , crazy custodian to restore it , but they are the rightful custodians to own it .
The first thing you see walking in front of this exhibition is obviously the Queen featured very prominently in your front window . Did you have some sort of a premonition ?
I had no medical records ! The Queen is taken from a small souvenir in a tourist shop . The artist , Richard Jackson , reproduced the Queen but with his face on it . I look at it more as Richard dealing with his own mortality at 85 years old . And just her waving , we used it more as saying goodbye to Chinatown , not knowing that the Queen would pass during its installation . People were out all day long taking photos in the window .
Racial injustice is obviously featuring very prominently in your art collection . How about your own life ? Have you ever faced any injustice ?
I was brought up in a lower-middle-class family in East Vancouver and had a lot of rich relatives , so I got to experience that sort of prejudice . I came into business at 19 years old with no education , and got to understand the difference between those that are included and those that are excluded .
Christian Chia and Bob Rennie alongside Richard Jackson ’ s My Self Portrait as the Queen of England , 2018- 2019 . Background left : Richard Jackson , Rennie 101 , 2009-2010 Background right : Martin Creed , Work No . 2487 , 2015