Eric Metcalfe is a Canadian visual and performance artist.

Early life

Eric Metcalfe was born in

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

and grew up in

Victoria, British Columbia Victoria is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific Ocean, Pacific coast. The city has a population of 91,867, and the Gre ...

. He travelled to Europe in 1960 and 1961, and on his return, worked as a truck driver for five years.A Dictionary of Canadian Artists, volumes 1-8 by Colin S. MacDonald, and volume 9 (online only), by Anne Newlands and Judith Parker National Gallery of Canada / Musée des beaux-arts du Canada He then met Maxwell Bates in 1966 who encouraged him in his practise as an artist. On a scholarship he entered the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

in 1967 and studied for three years with artists such as Dana Atchley and Peter Daglish, among others (1967-1971) graduating with his B.F.A. in 1971.

Career

With artists such as Hank Bull, Michael Morris, and Vincent Trasov, he explored comic book-style drawings and

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers, and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental performance art, art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finishe ...

conceptual art. In the 1970's, Metcalfe and

Kate Craig Kate Craig (September 15, 1947 – July 23, 2002) was a Canadian video and performance artist, costume designer, and photographer. She was a founding member of the artist-run centre the Western Front, in 1973, and the artists-in-residence progra ...

to whom he was married (in 1969) started performing under the persona Dr. Brute and Lady Brute. They went dressed in leopard print to art openings and played leopard print instruments with the ''Brute Sax Band''. They also collected examples of leopard print imagery from art, advertisements, magazines, and everyday life, and distributed them through a mail-art network. Metcalfe called their project to cover the world in leopard spots "Brutopia". In 1973, Metcalfe was one of the eight original founders of the

Western Front Society Western Front (Western Front Society) is an artist-run centre located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1973 by eight artists (Martin Bartlett, Mo van Nostrand, Kate Craig, Henry Greenhow, Glenn Lewis, Eric Metcalfe, M ...

. In 2021, the University of Victoria held an exhibition titled ''Pop Anthropology'' of Eric Metcalfe’s oeuvre, spanning over sixty years, in celebration of the artist’s honorary doctorate (UVic DFA 2021, BFA 1970). It honoured his years as a student in Visual Arts at the University of Victoria in the early 1970s, as well as his lifetime achievements as a pioneer in performance art in western Canada and co-founder of the Western Front. The Eric Metcalfe fonds is in the collection of the Morris and Helen Belkind Gallery, Vancouver.

Awards

* 2000

Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award The Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award is a monetary award given since 1971 by the Canada Council for the Arts to Canadian artists judged to be outstanding in their mid-careers. Since 2005, the award is given to one recipient in each of the follow ...

from the Canada Council. * 2006 Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts * 2008

Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts The Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts are annual awards for achievements in visual and media arts in Canada. Up to eight awards are presented annually, each with a prize amount of $25,000. Created in 2000 by then Governor General ...

. * 2015 Honorary Doctorate from

Emily Carr University of Art and Design The Emily Carr University of Art and Design (stylized as Emily Carr University of Art + Design and abbreviated as ECU) is a public university of art school, art and design located in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Founded in 1925 as the Van ...

* 2021 Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the

Collections

Metcalfe's work is collected in the following museums, among others: * Art Gallery of Greater Victoria * Art Gallery of Nova Scotia * Art Gallery of Ontario * Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery * Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA) (Collaborative work with Hank Bull) * National Gallery of Canada * University of Victoria Legacy Art Gallery * Vancouver Art Gallery * West Vancouver Art Museum

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalfe, Eric Artists from Vancouver Canadian performance artists 1940 births Living people Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts winners