The Vampires\u2019 Picnic takes place on the edge of a forest on a site where an \u00adaqueduct is under construction; a family of vampires and their victims have gathered around a nude central character, a sort of antiquated figure. While Wall considers this work as a parody of those celebrated clans of television lore, this vampire family is nonetheless an \u00adallusion to the dysfunctional nuclear family and to the father\u2019s place remaining vacant in current society. However, behind the pretext for humour lurks another form of vampirism: the encroachment of suburban development and its menace to nature. The artist\u2019s preoccupations with regard to urban social and economic \u00adrealities, as well as the history of class struggle, have again resurfaced. <\/em>(Source: R\u00e9al Lussier, MACM.) Jeff Wall studied art history at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, and at the Courtauld Institute, London, UK. His work has been \u00adexhibited in numerous international exhibitions, including a touring solo retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.<\/p>\n