The Kelowna Art Gallery has announced it will be a venue for the tour of Unreal, an exhibition drawn from the holdings of the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The exhibition contains work by 28 artists. About half of these are contemporary Canadians, while others have worked in the last century, some in Canada and some abroad.
“The theme of Unreal refers to areas of thought and experience beyond the everyday. Of course the zone of the fantastic contains both utopian and dystopian realms, and both are explored in this show,” said Daina Augaitis, chief curator and associate director with the Vancouver Art Gallery.
The works are grouped by sub-theme: The Unconscious, The Haunted, The Absurd, and The Disassembled.
Pieces range in medium from oil paintings to mixed-media works on paper, through to printmaking and three-dimensional sculptures.
The earliest works of art in the show are from the 1940s and are automatic surrealist works in ink and watercolour done by Canadian artist Jock Macdonald (1897-1960).
Some of the artists included have never been on exhibition in the Okanagan before, for example, Francis Bacon (1909-1992), the Irish-born painter famed for his screaming papal heads. Another is American photography-based artist Cindy Sherman, famous for work in which she dressed and posed as women in old master paintings, or from the Hollywood cinema.
An opening reception to celebrate Unreal will be held Friday, Jan. 10 from 7 to 9 p.m, at the Kelowna Art Gallery. This will be a free event, open to members and guests, by invitation. An exhibition tour will be offered at 7 p.m. by Stephanie Rebick, assistant curator with the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Unreal will be on view from Jan. 11 to March 9.
