by Lindsay Shapka in Art, Artists, Art History
When visiting big cities, it is easy to assume that their art galleries are going to be impressive and well worth spending an afternoon in, but as I have often discovered, this is not always the case.
But how do you know if a gallery is going to be worth visiting, or not? This post is a good place to start!
Read Moreby Lindsay Shapka in Art, Artists
For the first time Canadian artists Ron and Damian Moppett (father and son) are exhibiting selections from their vast collection of work together at the Art Gallery of Alberta. This unique show explores the similarity in their artistic practices and the different approaches that they use to interpret the subject of the artists's studio.
Read Moreby Lindsay Shapka in Art, Art History, Artists
Award-winning Canadian artist Chris Cran has his work displayed in private and public collections all over the world, and it's easy to see why.
His painted work — which he has been creating prolifically for the last 40 years — takes traditional art genres and turns them on their head. Still-life, portraiture and landscape works suddenly become oversized, avant-garde works of brilliance.
Read Moreby Lindsay Shapka in Art, Artists, Art History
The Art Gallery of Alberta is one of the oldest art galleries in Canada and celebrated its 90th birthday with the exhibit 90x90 featuring 90 pieces by 90 different Albertan artists created between 1924-2014.
I was lucky enough to preview the exhibit and was completely blown away by the work on display.
Read Moreby Lindsay Shapka in Artists, Art
There’s a quote that comes to mind when looking at this work by Igor Eskinja, an artist from Croatia: "Modern Art = I could do that + Yeah, but you didn't."
Modernism, as an art movement, originated in the early 20th century in tandem with momentous changes in politics, economics, and science. The developments in art and culture were a way of exploring new possibilities of expression, especially abstraction, in a rapidly changing world.
This work, titled Liberare Le Menti Occupare Gli Spazi is made from cheap packing tape and is applied directly to the wall of the gallery. Echoing the fleeting, fast-moving quality of the modern world, Eskinja creates his art using ephemeral materials applied directly to gallery surfaces.
This work is destroyed after each exhibit and the artist himself often doesn’t even create the art but sends measurements and instructions for the curators to do the installation themselves.
I often find myself shaking my head when walking into a gallery with a show like this and asking myself who it was that decided packing tape, tape gun still attached, on the wall was art.
I could do that… a small child could do that!
But I guess what it comes down to is that fact that I didn’t do it, Igor Eskinja did, and somebody, somewhere thought that it mattered.
