Saving The Tribal Soles

Despite its glass towers, sophisticated downtown eateries and swish nighttime skiing, Vancouver still has a frontier-town feel, and you can sense the culture clash in the work of artist Brian Jungen. On display in Jungen's hometown solo show at the Vancouver Art Gallery until April 30 are works ironically recasting mass-produced objects into indigenous artifacts, such as Indian masks constructed from basketball sneakers, as well as a sculpture that transforms cheap plastic chairs into a whale skeleton.

Jungen, who was raised on Danezaa Indian land north of the remote logging town of Fort St. John, British...