Jeff Wall: Inside presents a selection of the artist’s work over the past 30 years, with the emphasis on pictures made in the past decade and not previously seen in Vancouver.
Wall has stated that, from the outset, he wanted to have the same artistic freedom as painters, poets, or composers, the freedom to find what he calls “starting points“ anywhere—in things he witnessed, heard about, read about, or imagined.
The interiors are varied, from private rooms to busy public spaces, from present time to imaginary past moments, giving a sense of the artist’s wide-ranging fascinations.
The often-large size of the works emphasizes the visual impact of composition, colour, and form as well as the intimacy of seeming to share space with the subjects.
The pictures invite both contemplation and discussion, blending composition and artifice with the complex character of the different subjects—the approach that Wall has elaborated over his almost five-decade long career.