"Mainstreeters: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982"

Opening Reception: Thursday, January 8, 6-9pm

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Compilation for "Mainstreeters" show at Satellite Gallery

Image credits (clockwise from top left): "Kenneth Fletcher’s House, 1978," Courtesy of Paul Wong. "Deborah Fong, Mary Janeway, Paul Wong, Jeanette Reinhardt, High Profile Slow Scan performance, Video Inn, Vancouver and CN Tower Toronto, October 13, 1978," courtesy of Paul Wong. "Kenneth Fletcher, postcard to Jeanette Reinhardt, 1974," courtesy of Jeanette Reinhardt. "Deborah Fong, Jeanette Reinhardt, Annastacia McDonald, Carol Hackett and Paul Wong. Tour de 4 preparations, 1980," courtesy of Paul Wong.

Mainstreeters: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982 is an exhibition, website and publication that takes a close look at a self-identified collective of socially and artistically motivated men and women who came of age on Vancouver's Main Street—once the dividing line between a predominantly Anglo middle-class west side and a multicultural working-class east side. The exhibition at Satellite Gallery contributes to the larger project of bringing to light an under-recognized chapter of Vancouver art history.

The Mainstreeters—Kenneth Fletcher, Deborah Fong, Carol Hackett, Marlene MacGregor, Annastacia McDonald, Charles Rea, Jeanette Reinhardt and Paul Wong—were an "art gang" who took advantage of the times, a new medium (video), and each other. Emerging from the end-stage hippie era, the gang drew from glam, punk and a thriving gay scene to become an important node in the local art scene. Their activities connect the influential interdisciplinary salon of Roy Kiyooka in the early 1960s with the collective-oriented social practices that emerged worldwide in the early years of the 21st century.

The show is curated by Allison Collins and Michael Turner and is a coproduction of grunt gallery and Presentation House Gallery. Mainstreeters launched with the December 2nd release of a video documentary chronicling the lives of the group. On January 8th the exhibition opens at Satellite Gallery along with the launch of the website, featuring selected images, videos and texts. Throughout the exhibition, Mainstreeter videos will be presented in storefronts along Main Street, and the project will be complemented by a publication featuring photographs and documents to be released in summer 2015.

***A free courtesy bus will take visitors from the opening reception of Mainstreeters: Taking Advantage, 1972-1982 at Satellite Gallery to the opening reception of Tom Burrows at the Belkin Art Gallery (UBC) on Thursday, January 8. The bus will depart Satellite Gallery for the Belkin at 8:30 pm and return downtown at 9:45 pm.***