Works by Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol, Stan Douglas, and more on view at Per Diem: The Gerd Metzdorff Collection
The late Burnaby flight attendant and founding member of the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver began buying artworks in the 1980s with savings accumulated from per diems
Cindy Sherman, Untitled, 1975 / 2001, 2001.Fujicolor Crystal Archive Print Photo. 8 ¼ x 10 ½ inches Collection of Gerd Metzdorff.
Griffin Art Projects presents Per Diem: The Gerd Metzdorff Collection to May 8 at the gallery at 1174 Welch Street, North Vancouver as part of the Capture Photography Festival. Admission is free. A virtual curator’s tour with Lisa Baldissera takes place February 13 at 1 pm.
LATE BURNABY resident Gerd Metzdorff was a quietly influential art collector who amassed a stunning collection with works by some of the most important European and Canadian artists working today, some of whom were just launching their careers, including luminaries such as Lynda Benglis, Donald Judd, Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol. Nearly 100 pieces are on display for the first time at Griffin Art Projects’ new feature exhibition.
Born in Germany in 1948, Metzdorff immigrated to Burnaby with his family in 1952. A flight attendant for more than 40 years with Canadian Airlines and Air Canada, Metzdorff travelled regularly to his birthplace, where he would spend layovers visiting galleries in Dusseldorf and Cologne, contemporary art hotspots in the 1970s. He was also on the Vancouver-New York route, which allowed him to explore Ivan Karp’s OK Harris Gallery, Gagosian, Holly Solomon Gallery, and others.
Metzdorff purchased his first artwork in the 1980s with savings accumulated from per diems from Galerie Schmela, one of Germany’s most important galleries, which showed work by now iconic artists like Joseph Beuys and Gerhard Richter. He had been introduced to the venue by Brigitte and Henning Freybe, founders of Griffin Art Projects. Metzdorff would later add to his collection with trips to Art Cologne, Art Basel, and other major fairs.
He introduced many emerging names to the West Coast, including American sculptors John Chamberlain and Lynda Benglis; feminist art historian Griselda Pollock; Herb and Dorothy Vogel, civil servants who built one of the world’s most important art collections from modest means; and Alanna Heiss, founder of the PS1 Contemporary Art Center and the alternative space movement. Metzdorff went on to become a founding member of the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver, where he was in charge of programming.
Andy Warhol, Electric Chair, 1974. Silkscreen on paper. 51 ¼ x 39 inches Collection of Gerd Metzdorff.
Per Diem: The Gerd Metzdorff Collection is curated by Griffin director Lisa Baldissera.
“The unique origins of Gerd Metzdorff’s collection are testament to the fact that you can begin your own collection from exactly where you are — it is not a practice reserved solely for the wealthy or the privileged,” Baldissera said in a release. “Collecting is for everyone, and that he began his extraordinary practice with modest and well-planned means offers a pathway to viewers on how to begin that process. There is also a feeling of getting to know Metzdorff through this selection of work: the conversation between the pieces is challenging, funny, incisive, tough, and courageous. There is a boldness in his choices that comes through, and a confidence in the jouissance of life as expressed in the contemporary.”
The collector was especially drawn to German contemporary photography, American pop art, minimalism, and post-minimalism. The Per Diem exhibition will focus on photography as part of the Capture Photography Festival, as well as printmaking and drawing. Highlights include works by Andreas Gursky, Ed Ruscha, Thomas Ruff, and Cindy Sherman. A 2023 exhibition will showcase paintings by international and Canadian artists held in Metzdorff’s collection.
Christos Dikeakos, Gerd Metzdorff no. 1-4, December 2020. Archival inkjet photo courtesy the artist.
In addition to the virtual curator’s tour on February 13, other public programming includes Conversations on Collecting with Grant Mann and David Birdsall on March 13 at 1 pm. The virtual discussion is presented in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver.
On April 24 at 1 pm, it’s From the Eye Straight Down to the Soul: A Panel on How Collecting Begins with Karen Tam, Griffin’s adjunct curator. After the panel, participants can join Chats & Chews, an informal post-conference discussion. Initially conceived as part of the Whose Chinatown? virtual conference, Chats & Chews are informal mingling sessions for community members to connect.
Tam has also curated an online screening project featuring stories of the Vogels’ and other important collections.
Stan Douglas, Vancouver Flats, 2002. Photograph on print paper. 44 x 22 ½ inches. Collection of Gerd Metzdorff.
More information is at griffinartprojects.ca.
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