At the center of Concord Pacific’s Brentwood community in Burnaby, BC, stands a striking new landmark: “Winnie’s Pleasure”, a monumental sculpture by Los Angeles-based artist Nancy Rubins. Commissioned by Concord ArtSpace and realized in partnership with Gagosian, the contemporary art powerhouse, the work is Rubins’ first permanent installation in Canada and introduces her distinctive sculptural language to Metro Vancouver. The sculpture was unveiled at a ceremony this summer with CEO Terry Hui and Karen Mills, Concord Pacific’s Public Art Curator, in attendance.
“Winnie’s Pleasure” is composed of aluminum canoes and boats, assembled into an immense, suspended form that extends nearly forty feet into the air above an eight-foot concrete plinth. The sculpture appears to bloom outward, its parts interlocked in a complex structure of stainless steel cables and tension systems. From certain angles, the mass of vessels resembles a great flowering tree, a frozen burst of energy and form.
The work connects directly to the surrounding landscape. Visible from Lougheed Highway, the SkyTrain, and multiple points around the Concord Brentwood plaza, “Winnie’s Pleasure” is meant to be experienced in motion. “Each vantage point provides a new opportunity for contemplation and reflection,” Rubins notes in her artist statement. “The whole sculpture can never be seen all at once, and its shape changes with each new view.”
Rubins’ work focuses on transforming industrial and everyday materials like airplane parts, playground toys, boats, and animal casts into sculptural compositions of monumental scale. In “Winnie’s Pleasure,” the chosen medium is canoes, objects that resonate deeply with First Nations history and the nearby Burnaby Lake and Deer Lake. “Boats have remained a consistent element in my sculptures,” Rubins continues. “They represent humankind purposing raw materials to increase their capacity for travel and to engage directly with nature. The boats I use generally require active participation, and from them, I create organically shaped, blooming sculptures meant to invoke delight and optimism.”
The boats are held together through tensegrity, a system of compression and tension first described by Buckminster Fuller and Kenneth Snelson. “Once the structure was engineered and the boats and wire elements were on site, my team and I built element by element or boat by boat to form the sculpture such that the whole is stronger than the parts,” Rubins says. The resulting structure, measuring roughly 41 x 40 x 40 feet, combines mathematical precision with expressive freedom.
Gagosian represents many of the world’s foremost contemporary artists, and the gallery has supported Rubins’ monumental sculptures from New York to Paris. By bringing her work to Burnaby, Gagosian and Concord Pacific are combining global art discourse with their efforts at local urban transformation.
For Terry Hui, the installation marks a new chapter in how large-scale development can integrate contemporary art. “This collaboration expands the cultural dialogue in Vancouver,” Hui says. “It demonstrates how public art can create a shared experience for families in our communities, one that connects them with both Canadian and international artists.”
Concord Pacific has built its public art program into the largest privately-funded program of its kind in Canada. Across major developments, including Concord Pacific Place in Vancouver, Concord CityPlace in Toronto, and Concord Park Place in North York, the company has commissioned hundreds of artworks that enhance urban spaces, parks, and architectural exteriors. Together, these communities house the nation’s most expansive collection of public art.
Concord’s approach is deeply intertwined with its architectural vision. Each commissioned work is positioned as a functional part of the built environment. At Concord Brentwood, Rubins’ sculpture acts as both a centerpiece and a spatial anchor between the surrounding towers, pedestrian walkways, and open plaza.
Future commissions will expand this commitment, including Canadian-themed installations at Concord Canada House in Toronto, Woodsy Park in North York, and the country’s largest suspended art piece at The Arc building in Vancouver.