TENXTEN (2025)
TENXTEN at Griffin Art Projects is made up of the artwork of over 70 artists from 10 private Vancouver-area contemporary art collections, and marks the 10th anniversary of the Griffin. The exhibition centres acquisitions from the collections of Cathy Busby and Garry Neill Kennedy; Bruce Munro Wright; Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft; Jane Irwin and Ross Hill; Laing and Kathleen Brown; Drs. Wallace and Madeline Chung; Gerd Metzdorff (posthumously mangaged by Grant Mann and David Birdsall); Inna and Michael O’Brian; Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa; Michael Prout and Leonardo Lara.
Cathy Busby and Lisa Baldissera selected works from the Busby / Kennedy collection and Busby planned the arrangement of the works on the wall. It was important to Busby that the selections reflected both her and Kennedy's life paths in acquiring works. For example, while Kennedy had acquired works and received letters from Joseph Beuys while he was the ground-breaking President of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Busby had acquired Fred Tomeselli's, Self-Portrait March 19, 1995, through her work on the book she co-edited, When Pain Strikes 1999. She also felt it was important as artists and incidental-collectors, that examples of their artworks be included, making visible a glimpse of each of their asethetics within the overall selection of works. Busby enjoys some of the unforeseen correspondences found in this installation, such as the dot pattern printing in both her print, SORRY (Mike Harris) and From Eurasia Staff by Joseph Beuys.
Selection exhibited from the Busby / Kennedy collection (listed as hung, from left to right, top to bottom): Cathy Busby, Sorry (Mike Harris), 2004; Joseph Beuys, Untitled napkins, 1976; Joseph Beuys, April 1976 letter to GNK from Beuys, 1976; Joseph Beuys, July 1986 letter from GNK to Beuys, 1976; Joseph Beuys, Euradia Staff, 1973; Robyn Thomas, Portrait of Alan Eagleson, 1999; Robyn Thomas, Mildred Pierce #8, 1999; Vernon Stephens, wooden spoon, 2005; Garry Neill Kennedy, GOD!, 2014; Gerald Ferguson, 800', 2000; Fred Tomaselli, Self-portrait March 19, 1995, 1995; Mark Dion, Abu Ghraib, 2004; Garry Neill Kennedy, GOD! sketch, 2014; Julia Kennedy, Do Be, 2005; Daniel Buren, Halifax: 7 Days - 6 Placements - 7 Colours, 1973; Dan Graham, Schema, 1966.
TENXTEN was curated by curated by Lisa Baldissera and runs from May 31 - September 7, 2025.