Andre Petterson | Now and Then and Back Again | Solo Survey Exhibition

Andre Petterson | Now and Then and Back Again
Solo Survey Exhibition
October 3-15, 2026
Main Level and Upper Gallery
3045 Granville Street
Opening reception: Saturday, October 3, 2-4 pm | Artist in Attendance

Bau-Xi Vancouver very proudly presents Now and Then and Back Again, a major solo survey exhibition celebrating the dynamic, multi-disciplined Vancouver-based artist Andre Petterson. This extensive and exciting exhibition features an incredible collection of mixed media paintings, photography and sculpture from various key moments over the artist's fifty-year career. Many of the works are being exhibited together for the first time. 

Now and Then and Back Again is installed on our Main Level as well as our Upper Gallery.


Artist Statement:

I landed my first exhibition at Bau-Xi Gallery in 1974, to take place in 1975. Before that time, there was a career in music, where I played drums in several bands - rock and jazz. I became interested in visual art when I met [Canadian RCA painter] Otto Rogers in Saskatoon. He was very encouraging and told me that pursuing my newfound interest would be a good idea. The music and the art continued at the same time until my choice to become a full-time visual artist took the reins. 

Over the years, the constant in my art making has been the desire to tell stories. I have taken an interest in many subjects and themes. The need to explore one thing for a while and shift to another kept me interested. 

Certain subjects - some for reasons I can’t always explain - continue to grab me and beckon me to explore them by thinking of them as items or words: horses, typewriters, machines, books, common everyday objects, musical instruments. How I have and still do work with these 'words' is by attaching visual cues to them. For example, the horse series began by spilling paint onto a plastic horse and thinking of the paint as movement and the horse as still - resulting in the series STILL NOT STILL. The book series began by photographing books and creating environments in which to place them - I was telling stories about the book rather than the book providing its own story. Each series is a long story with smaller stories within. 

In the early days, I made primarily sculptures and assemblages - I told my stories through these works. I made a switch to painting, photo-based works, and photography sometime in the late 80s. I have explored installation works, theatre, and soundscapes for my own works, and created sound pieces for modern dance. 

All of these things have kept me interested in the process of art making. It’s been over fifty years of exploration, trial, and error, and it all continues.  

-Andre Petterson, 2026


VIEW THE FULL COLLECTION