(Calgary) – Glenbow is honoured to present the largest and most comprehensive exhibition to-date to explore the incredible 65-year career of world-renowned Alberta artist Alex Janvier.
Opening on June 16 until September 9, 2018 at Glenbow is the spectacular exhibit, Alex Janvier: Modern Indigenous Master.
The launch party will be held at Glenbow (located at 130 9th Avenue S.E. in Calgary) on June 15 at 7:30 pm. They will also be unveiling the sixth installment of the One New Work series, entitled Gwenessa Lam: What Magic, and showcasing art and artifacts acquired by Glenbow in 2017 in the aptly titled Recent Acquisitions.
A special event will be held on June 16: In Conversation with Alex Janvier. Artist Alex Janvier and exhibition curator Greg Hill will discuss Janvier’s life in art and his major career retrospective, Alex Janvier: Modern Indigenous Master. Tickets are $12/Members $10. Call 403-268-4110 to purchase in advance.
This major retrospective, organized by the National Gallery of Canada, celebrates Janvier’s lifetime of creativity, knowledge and perspective, gained through his love of the land, art and Dene culture. The exhibition features more than 100 remarkable paintings and drawings, including well-known masterpieces as well as works that have never been on public display.
Janvier’s unique paintings, with their vivid colours and calligraphic lines, combine Dene iconography with Western art styles and techniques, such as automatic painting and modern abstraction. Exploring the geocultural landscape of Janvier’s northern Alberta home, his works on paper, canvas and linen reference Indigenous culture and history, including his own experience of the effects of colonization and residential schools, using his distinctive personal aesthetic.
“His paintings tell the story of his experiences: as a boy in residential school, through learning about art as a student, to the many years of working as a professional artist putting his work out there for all to see,” says exhibition curator Greg Hill, Audain Senior Curator of Indigenous Art at the National Gallery of Canada.
“And, over those many years, conveying what it means to be an Indigenous person in a country that for a long time sought only to eradicate any sense of self-identification or connection to one’s Indigeneity. Viewers connect to the beauty and truth about humanity that comes through the paintings.”
An amazing exhibit. The colour, expression and forms. A real treat and surprise that evening was the band that played. They have just been signed to produce their first CD and I cannot remember their name.