Left - right: Ken Lum, Jeff Ulmer, Randy Roberston, Ted Zawadzki, James Channing - photo by Tommy Chan

Sacred Blade now appearing. . .
at the Art Gallery?

For a mere $14,000 you can own your own photo of Sacred Blade. "We Are Sacred Blade" is one of the mixed media artworks created by world renowned Vancouver artist Ken Lum, for his "Protrait Logo" series. Measuring 4 feet tall, 9 feet wide and two inches thick, the work combines a photographic portrait of the band with Sacred Blade's three colour corporate logo on aluminum framed plexiglass.

"Vancouver music critic Tom Harrison played a key part in the connection with Lum," states band manager Brian Barry," Harrison found out Ken was looking for a band to shoot for his upcoming gallery showcase. Tom ran into Jeff at the band's former post office box, and suggested he give Ken a call. Now Sacred Blade is being seen in art galleries around the world - not exactly the kind of place you'd expect to find them!"

The photo was shot in the hallways outside Lum's Downtown Vancouver studio. "We were getting all these strange looks as we drove up on the curb during rush hour (when there is no parking allowed) in downtown Vancouver," recalls bassist James Channing, "then all of us jump out of Ted's van with guitar cases and drums and run into Ken's office building. We had to unload everything in a hurry - we had to escape before the van was ticketed!"

Drummer Ted Zawadzki remembers, "I parked my van in this underground parking lot, but didn't realise that the exit was too low for me to get it back out again. We had to let the air out of the tires to clear all the pipes on the ceiling and then had to drive out of downtown with flat tires."

Two copies of "We Are Sacred Blade" debuted simultaneously at both the Vancouver Art Gallery (where the work was showcased during a two month exhibit) and at the Andrea Rosen Gallery in New York. Additional showings followed at the Simon Watson Gallery as part of the "Total Metal" exhibit, then went on to Stockholm, Sweden.

Lum's work has received much critical acclaim and has been featured in many world class art magazines such as Vogue. He has several works on permanent display at various galleries around the world, and is considered one of the most influential mixed media artists by many international sources.

"It's pretty weird to think that someone has this huge picture of the band sitting above their mantlepiece" laughs Jeff Ulmer, "but both works were sold within weeks of their release. I never really thought of myself as "art"!"