Realism has been held up to scorn for its perceived attachment to linguistic transparency - the sense that an image can reveal the full truth of the situation or object it depicts. This skepticism was extended in the late 20th century with the rise of conceptual art and the development of critiques that proposed that, in a world pervaded with spectacular images, the task of the artist should be to deconstruct the systems through which images flow and provide critical considerations of the ways images act upon us. Residue: The Persistence of the Real is comprised of work that draws upon a documentary impulse and pursues the real as something that cannot be entirely reduced to representation, while at the same time acknowledging the mediating character of the mechanisms that shape perception. The book presents recent work in a variety of media - including photography, video and installation - by nine artists from Vancouver and elsewhere.

Compiled by: Vancouver Art Gallery