In the first episode of a new series of A brush with..., Ben Luke talks to the Canadian artist Stan Douglas about his influences—including writers, film-makers, musicians, and, of course, other artists—and the cultural experiences that have shaped his life and work.
Installation view of Stan Douglas: 2011 ≠ 1848, Magazzini del Sale No. 5, 59th Venice Biennale. Photo: Jack Hems. Courtesy of the artist, the National Gallery of Canada, Victoria Miro and David Zwirner
Douglas was born in 1960 in Vancouver, where he currently lives and works. He is one of the leading pioneers of video installation and large-scale photography, scrutinising different media to explore how they shape our understanding of reality. He does so through making often unexpected connections between contemporary and historical events, and rich references to music and literature.
Stan Douglas, still from Luanda-Kinshasa (2013) © Stan Douglas. Courtesy the artist, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner
In this conversation, he discusses his early interest in Marcel Duchamp, the enduring power of artists as diverse as Francisco de Goya and Agnes Martin, his endless fascination with Samuel Beckett, and how his love of Miles Davis’s underrated album On the Corner prompted one of his best works, Luanda-Kinshasa (2013).
Still from Stan Douglas’s Win, Place or Show (1998) © Stan Douglas. Courtesy of the artist,Victoria Miro and David Zwirner
• Stan Douglas’s project for the 59th Venice Biennale, 2011 ≠ 1848, is in the Canadian Pavilion in the Giardini and the Magazzini del Sale, Venice, until 27 November.
• Series 10 of A brush with... runs from 1-22 June, with episodes released on Wednesdays. You can download and subscribe to the podcast here. This podcast is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects.