Stan Douglas

2019 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts

Vancouver based artist Stan Douglas is one of Canada’s most widely celebrated and internationally important contemporary artists. Best known for his photography, film and video installations, his art often examines the complexities of social reality and history.

Born in 1960 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Stan Douglas graduated from the Emily Carr College of Art and Design, now the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, in 1982. The following year, he was included in the Vancouver Art Gallery’s survey Vancouver: Art and Artists 1931-1983.

In the 1990’s, Stan Douglas rose to international prominence. He was one of the first artists to be represented by New York Gallery, David Zwirner, where he had his debut American exhibition in 1993. In addition to numerous solo exhibitions at prominent institutions worldwide, including the Württembergische Kunstverein and Staatsgalerie Stuttgart in Germany, the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, the Kestnergesellschaft in Hanover, and the Serpentine Gallery in London, Stan Douglas was also selected for Documentas IX, X and XI and the Venice Biennales in 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2018.

Stan Douglas’ ongoing inquiry into technology’s role in image making and how it shapes the collective memory is reflected in his frequent references to the history of literature, cinema and music. Through reenactments of historical moments of social tension, Stan Douglas often explores the “failed utopian” motif. His pieces frequently challenge viewers to experience multiple moments in history and geography simultaneously, in order to reconcile the separate historical events into a new cohesive story of social struggle.

In addition to the 2019 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts, Stan Douglas has received a number of awards and acclamations for his art. He was awarded the Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award in 2007, the Bell Award in Video Art in 2008, the Infinity Award for Art from the International Center of Photography in 2012, the Scotia Bank Photography Award in 2013, and the Hasselblad Award in 2016.

Works by Stan Douglas are held in the collection of; the Vancouver Art Gallery; the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Tate Gallery, London; and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota.