Jim Lambie's Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) exhibition Zobop is coming to a close in just under a month, and the vinyl tape installation deserves its flowers. Lambie's creative use of the VAG's architecture to welcome visitors into the space speaks to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.
Upon swinging open the gallery doors and closing in on the stairs to VAG's second floor, visitors are inundated with colour: a product of Lambie's imagination, both flattening and expanding the space. The result is what appears to be a giant multi-coloured and multi-dimensional ripple.
Lambie is well-known for creating pieces that work within pre-existing spaces. Zobop (Colour-Chrome) is a part of a bigger series of his, Zobop, where he shapes brightly coloured strips of industrial vinyl tape around rooms, changing his work depending on the space. Other work in this series has been created for the Design and Copyright Society in London, the Museum of Art and Photography in Bengaluru, India, as well as other design and museum spaces.
Left: © Jim Lambie. All rights reserved, DACS, London 2023. Image courtesy of the National Galleries of Scotland. Right: Zobop Installation at MAP Bengaluru. Photo Credit: Philippe Calia. Image courtesy of MAP India.
The series as a whole resembles Jazz both in Lambie's inspiration by the genre and the improvisational element at the core of each of these works. Before attending a program in Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art, he became involved in the local music scene, leading to the ongoing inspiration by music and music scenes.