Public art by Gordon Halloran

VanDusen Botanical Garden to host Lotus in Motion



Multi-coloured lotus leaves to float on two lakes, one pond in July

JUNE 6, 2011, Vancouver - Artist Gordon Halloran, who most recently completed a wall of ice paintings called ICE GATE for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, will bring another brilliantly coloured outdoor public art installation to the city of Vancouver in July, 2011 called Lotus In Motion, the Watercolour Project.

VanDusen Botanical Garden is the setting for the two-lake-one-pond installation, made up of multiple paintings in the shape of the lily pad, bold in colour and varied in size. Visitors will see the artwork as they walk the paths, touring the gardens. Livingston Lake, Heather Pond, and Heron Lake will contain the paintings which will float on the water. A smaller installation will also be featured in the pool of the Bentall Garden just inside the Garden Entrance. The installation opens to the public July 29th.

Gordon Halloran’s Lotus In Motion uses site, scale and colour to attract viewers. Like bees to bright flowers, onlookers are seduced by vibrancy, lured out of individual pursuits into collective play.



Working along the trajectory of his unique, sculptural ice paintings, (Paintings Below Zero), Halloran employs water as part of the artwork’s physicality. Floating lily pads in a variety of sizes, Lotus In Motion is an installation of shape and hue that finds inspiration in Claude Monet’s Impressionist waterlilies, calving Arctic icebergs, and overlapping organic textures of landscape flora. Halloran’s lotus paintings bud from the natural world – each composition, a layering of pattern and hue resplendent with vigour.

When the new $20 million Visitor Centre opens at VanDusen in September 2011, Lotus In Motion will provide a backdrop of magnificent colour to the building in the garden setting.



In addition, the artist is creating a new series of Lotus In Motion paintings for a parallel exhibit. While the water installation uses a combination of materials designed to stay afloat and intact in the water as well as to be seen from a distance, the permanent wall paintings are made of slightly different multi-layered materials, rich in texture, lacework, and brilliant colour.

A special press preview on Thursday, July 28th is planned at VanDusen Botanical Garden, with the artist in attendance. For press information on this opening, contact Caitlin Hicks (604)886-3634. Lotus in Motion, the Watercolour Project runs until September 30.