Rodney Graham

Rodney Graham (born January 16, 1949) is an artist and musician born in Abbotsford, British Columbia. He is most often associated with the Vancouver School. He lives in Vancouver and is married to the artist Shannon Oksanen. Though they have not divorced, she lives separately with her two children and their father.

Work

Coming out of Vancouver's 1970s photoconceptual tradition, Rodney Graham's work is often informed by historical literary, musical, philosophical and popular references. He is most often associated with other West-coast Canadian artists, including Vikky Alexander, Jeff Wall, Stan Douglas, Roy Arden and Ken Lum. He was taught by fellow Vancouver school artist Ian Wallace 'while at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, from 1979 to 1980. Around this time, he played in the band UJ3RK5 with fellow artist Jeff Wall. His wide-ranging and often unclassifiable work has frequently engaged with technologies of the past: literary, psychological and musical texts, optical devices, and film as historical medium.