Ian Wallace OC

2022 Audain Prize for the Visual Arts

Vancouver Artist Ian Wallace is known for his conceptual art, painting, photographic murals, and critical writings. Originally born in 1943 in Shoreham, England, he was raised in Canada from the age of one. Wallace received his MA in art history from the University of British Columbia where he also taught before taking an influential appointment at the Vancouver School of Art from 1972, which later became the Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

As a leading figure of photo conceptual art, Wallace is one of a group of internationally acclaimed artists whose works often focuses on depictions of social reality, including Stan Douglas, Jeff Wall and Rodney Graham, and who all continue to live and work in Vancouver.

Ian Wallace began to integrate painting and photography in 1980 and his work has been in many important exhibitions since including a retrospective of Wallace’s work in 1988 at the Vancouver Art Gallery. In 2008 a solo exhibition of his work toured Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland. In 2012 the Vancouver Art Gallery again featured Wallace’s work, focusing on his development as an artist whose influence spans over five decades. He is currently represented by galleries Vancouver, Madrid and Brussels.

Throughout his career Ian Wallace has received multiple awards, including the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts (2004) and the Molson Prize for outstanding lifetime achievements (2009). In 2012 he was honoured with the Order of Canada in recognition of his contributions to contemporary art in Canada and in 2014, he was awarded the Chevalier de L’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.