I
n January 2012, artist James
Nizam set up a wall in his
Vancouver studio and
started drilling constella-
tions of holes within a circle. He
made larger ones in the centre
and dispersed smaller ones
toward the edges. When he back-
lit the wall and photographed it
in the darkness, there appeared a
dazzling sphere.
Drill Holes Through Studio Wall
was shown at Vancouver's Gallery
Jones in a collection called Trace
Heavens and then travelled to
galleries in Toronto, Zurich and
Leipzig. Five editions sold, most
recently for $10,500, and found
favour with many critics. "Nizam
has attempted and achieved
more than clever light illusions,"
wrote Dion Kliner in Canadian
Art magazine. "Through a
series of revolving metaphors,
he draws a picture of an ancient
celestial world meshed with our
perceptual world meshed with
the art world." Drill Holes also
"meshed" with the Internet—
getting Pinned, shared and
Instagrammed at astronomical
rates. Several times after a popu-
lar art blogger had featured the
image, Gallery Jones's website
received 12,000 daily hits.
But in January, the sharing
went too far. Nizam's girlfriend
was walking through Oakridge
Mall with her 12-year-old daughter
when the girl pointed to a rack in
ADAM BLASBERG JUNE 2016 BCBusiness 15
T HE MON T HLY IN FOR MER
TMı
"We were in this intense conict
with the forestry companies and
workers and communities... and
we had to listen to them. We were
coming at it from the science
and environmental side, but the
answers were economic"
–p.19
J U N E 2 0 1 6
Art Heist
L a w
The Internet has made B.C. artwork susceptible to theft by
corporate interests. But in a copyright fight against Goliath,
David can still win, say legal experts
by Marcie Good
INSIDE
New life for old ferries ... Craft beer, craft cider or mead? ... Let the festivities begin! ... + more
double exposure
Shane O'Brien, one of
the owners of Gallery
Jones, with James
Nizam's Drill Holes
Through Studio Wall
and an American Eagle
Outfitters T-shirt bearing
a very similar image
"Art is like the back-
bone of every society,
and so to say, 'Oh, I can
just rip this artist off,' it
really takes away from
everything art means"
– Emily Danchuk,
founder of Copyright
Collaborative
Drill Holes Through Studio Wall
was shown at Vancouver's Gallery
Trace
Art magazine. "Through a
series of revolving metaphors,
he draws a picture of an ancient
celestial world meshed with our
perceptual world meshed with
the art world."
"meshed" with the Internet—
getting Pinned, shared and
Instagrammed at astronomical
rates. Several times after a popu
The Internet has made B.C. artwork susceptible to theft by
corporate interests. But in a copyright fight against Goliath,
The Internet has made B.C. artwork susceptible to theft by
corporate interests. But in a copyright fight against Goliath,
The Internet has made B.C. artwork susceptible to theft by
"Art is like the back