What's On

The Pacific Gallery Launches ‘Sight Lines’: Works by Marten Elder, Erin McSavaney and Renée Van Halm

October 8th, 2024

Fairmont Pacific Rim is pleased to announce the latest exhibition at The Pacific Gallery: Sight Lines, a curated collection featuring the works of photographer Marten Elder and architectural artists Erin McSavaney and Renée Van Halm. In collaboration with Equinox Gallery, this thought-provoking exhibit re-imagines architectural space, offering fresh perspectives on how we see and experience the built environment.

Located on the second floor of the hotel and running until January 2025, Sight Lines invites viewers to explore architecture through three distinct approaches, each artist pushing the boundaries of how space, form, and light are perceived.

Marten Elder

Marten Elder’s photographic work offers a unique blend of reality and technological manipulation. Elder selects spatial situations such as sidewalks, curbs, corners, and niches—not for their obvious visual appeal, but for their potential to become something more. Through meticulous processing of the camera’s raw data, Elder’s photographs reveal vibrant tonal ranges that are often invisible to the naked eye. His images show real-world spaces that feel both familiar and abstract, offering viewers a new way of seeing the subtle interplay of colour and light in the physical world.

erin mcsavaney

Erin McSavaney’s acrylic paintings bring ordinary structures to life by blending realism with precise abstract forms. His subjects—buildings, lawns, parking lots, fences—are spaces often overlooked in daily life. Through McSavaney’s detailed brushwork and manipulation of light and shadow, these commonplaces become visually compelling works of art. His paintings invite viewers to reconsider the mundane and find beauty in the simplicity of everyday architecture.

Renée Van Halm

Renée Van Halm’s work is deeply rooted in her extensive study and travel, both of which have shaped her understanding of architecture and its relationship with colour. Her pieces begin with digitally collaged architectural forms, where certain elements are abstracted, removed, or flattened to highlight their inherent beauty. Through her manipulation of traditional views, Van Halm brings attention to the sensory impact of colour, showing how it governs our perception of architectural space. Her work reveals the emotional and social dimensions of the environments we often take for granted.

a new way to see architecture

Sight Lines brings together these three artists, each of whom offers a unique lens on the built world. The exhibition recalibrates how we experience the relationship between space, form, colour, and light, making viewers more aware of the subtleties in their surroundings. Whether it’s the vibrancy of colour in a curbside nook or the interplay of shadow on an ordinary building, Sight Lines invites us to see the beauty in what we often overlook.

Don’t miss the chance to experience this captivating exhibition at The Pacific Gallery, on display from October 2024 to January 2025. Whether you’re an art enthusiast or simply curious about the way we interact with architectural space, Sight Lines is sure to inspire.

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