January 10 to March 1, 2015
Edward Burtynsky, Oil Fields #18, Belridge, California, USA, 2003, chromogenic print, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery, Gift of the Artist, © Edward Burtynsky, Courtesy Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto / Paul Kuhn Gallery, Calgary
Emily Carr, Loggers’ Culls, 1935, oil on canvas, Collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery,
Gift of Miss I. Parkyn, Photo: Trevor Mills, Vancouver Art Gallery
The Kelowna Art Gallery is delighted to be receiving this exhibition drawn from the permanent collection of the Vancouver Art Gallery. Organized by VAG senior curator, Bruce Grenville, the show comes to us via the VAG’s Across the Province program. Eighteen works by renowned Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky have been paired with six paintings by Emily Carr, who is a touchstone to so many people, art lovers and the general public alike. Both of these artists have explored the connection they have felt with the natural world and conveyed in their respective art forms.
With Burtynsky, we are given almost a mini retrospective, as the selection for the show begins with his first professional images, shot in the early 1980s in British Columbia. His marble quarry images from the early 1990s follow, and then come the super-famous bright red nickel mine tailings, shot near Sudbury, Ontario in the mid 1990s. The exhibition contains some examples of Burtynsky’s work in China, and ends with a recent photograph of an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and an erosion control scene in Iceland. His works explore the human imprint on the planet and are startlingly beautiful despite their grim subject matter.
Emily Carr needs no introduction; she is one of Canada’s cultural heroes. Fighting against the repression of her own culture and going it alone as an artist, Emily Carr led a challenging and very difficult life. The selection of works for this show centre around her depictions of logging and gravel quarrying, both human incursions into the pristine rainforest environment that she so adored.
A Terrible Beauty: Edward Burtynsky in Dialogue with Emily Carr is organized and circulated by the Vancouver Art Gallery with the generous support of the Killy Foundation and is curated by Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator.
Opening Reception
Friday, January 16, 7 to 9 pm
This is a free event, open to members and guests by invitation.
