The Estate of Joachim Waibel is pleased to present Restless Creation, a major retrospective celebrating the artist’s remarkably
Event Details
The Estate of Joachim Waibel is pleased to present Restless Creation, a major retrospective celebrating the artist’s remarkably wide-ranging creative practice, running from Nov. 20–Dec. 20, 2026, at Waibel’s former home and studio in West Vancouver. Presented in situ where the artist lived and worked, this immersive exhibition brings together hundreds of paintings, photographs, videos, sculptures, assemblages, and writings, launching with an Opening Gala and Silent Auction on Friday, Nov. 27, to benefit the local organizations Arts Umbrella and the Gordon and Marion Smith Foundation for Young Artists.
“At its heart, Restless Creation is about more than presenting a body of artworks,” says curator Lee Plested. “It is an opportunity to encounter the life of an individual who spent decades looking at the world, collecting its fragments, and transforming them into something of his own. The exhibition celebrates Joachim Waibel as a singular cultural producer — an interloper, collector, maker, and passionate amateur whose curiosity became an expansive and deeply personal artistic practice.”
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Born in Stuttgart, Germany, in 1959, Joachim Waibel immigrated to Canada with his family in 1973, where he lived and worked for the remainder of his life. In his day job, he worked as the CEO of a property management company. Outside of office hours, he was a self-invented artist working outside formal institutions, approaching art with complete freedom across painting, photography, video, writing, assemblage, and sculpture.
An avid reader and collector, Waibel drew inspiration from opera, cinema, architecture, travel, gastronomy, history, technology, and popular culture. He collected fragments of the world around him, bringing disparate objects together to create hundreds of works characterized by humor, playfulness, and a profound engagement with how history is remembered and how cultures are constructed.
Restless Creation is a rare opportunity for audiences to experience the sheer scale and variety of his life’s work. Visitors can explore the amassed works to form their own connections to his practice across different periods and mediums. All of the works on display will be available for purchase with accessible pricing, as all proceeds will be donated to local arts organizations.
Time
November 20 (Friday) - December 20 (Sunday) (All Day)(GMT+00:00)
“At its heart, Restless Creation is about more than presenting a body of artworks,” says curator Lee Plested. “It is an opportunity to encounter the life of an individual who spent decades looking at the world, collecting its fragments, and transforming them into something of his own. The exhibition celebrates Joachim Waibel as a singular cultural producer — an interloper, collector, maker, and passionate amateur whose curiosity became an expansive and deeply personal artistic practice.”