Here’s what I love… the Art Gallery of Alberta

I don’t get up to Edmonton quite as often as I used to, which was especially evidenced by how frequently I was lost on my most recent foray.

My favorite ‘lost’ situation was at the Art Gallery of Alberta; and by lost I don’t mean physically, but mentally. There is something about meandering through a well-designed space on a cool rainy afternoon surrounded by amazing art that fills my soul.

Big ~ Jack Bush

Tall Spread ~ Jack Bush

There was a ‘no photographs’ policy strictly adhered to for the Jack Bush Retrospective Exhibition so sadly I can only show you images from the internet, but it was a summary of a remarkable career in which bold colour field abstracts gave way to iconic commercial illustrations. The inclusion of Bush’s unpublished diaries offered insight into his creative mind, and an understanding of his abstract painting. Read more here. And here.

I was mesmerized by the ‘Illuminations’ exhibit, which were a stunning curation of Italian Baroque paintings currently held in Canadian collections and the Toledo series by Douglas Haynes, an Alberta artist.

The Fortune-teller ~ Simon Vouet 1620

The Massacre of the Children of Niobe ~Luca Giordano 1685

Douglas Haynes ~ Toledo series #6

Douglas Haynes ~ Toledo series #8

Douglas Haynes ~ Toledo series #9

The last exhibition at the AGA on my stop that rainy afternoon was an unexpected space featuring AGA permanent works, called The Double Bind. I loved the whole exhibit and the dynamic pairings of modern and post modern work. It was a great example of demystifying genres, and the progression of art. Truly a fun and joyful exhibit.