This fall, let art transform you at the National Gallery of Canada

04/09/2019 12:09

Highlights:

Àbadakone / Continuous Fire / Feu continuel: contemporary international Indigenous art that will spread into the Gallery's public spaces
The talent of today's young Canadian artists in the 2019 Sobey Art Award Exhibition at the Art Gallery of Alberta
Family Sundays begin September 29

OTTAWA, Sept. 4, 2019 /CNW/ - Contemporary Canadian and International art will be at the forefront this fall and throughout the winter of 2019-2020 at the National Gallery of Canada with the exhibition Àbadakone / Continuous Fire / Feu continuel – the cornerstone of the season; and the 2019 Sobey Art Award exhibition, which will take place at the Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton this year.

The second exhibition of "Contemporary. International. Indigenous." art organized by the National Gallery of Canada, Àbadakone / Continuous Fire / Feu continuel opens for free to the public (please join us!) on Thursday, November 7 at 5 p.m. with a special ceremonial opening in the Scotiabank Great Hall.

On view from November 8, 2019 to April 5, 2020, the show will bring together works by more than 70 artists identifying with approximately 40 Indigenous Nations, ethnicities, and tribal affiliations from 16 countries, including Canada. Shuvinai Ashoona (Inuk, from Kinngait, Nunavut), Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe from Upsala, Ontario), Jordan Bennett (Mi'kmaq from Stephenville Crossing, Newfoundland), Manuel Chavajay (Maya-Tz'utujil, from San Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala), Laakkuluk Williamson-Bathory (Inuk, based in Iqaluit, Nunavut), Mata Aho Collective (Māori, from Aotearoa/New Zealand), Tracey Moffatt (Aboriginal Australian from Brisbane, Australia), Zanele Muholi (Zulu from Umlazi, South Africa), Joar Nango (Sámi, from Alta, Norway), Evgeniy Salinder (Nenets, from Salekhard, Siberia), Sarah Sense (Chitimacha and Choctaw from Sacramento, California, U.S.A.), Joseph Tisiga (Kaska Dene from Edmonton, Alberta), and Will Wilson (Diné, from Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A.) are among the artists whose works will be on display.

Àbadakone / Continuous Fire / Feu continuel will spill out of the exhibition spaces into the Gallery's public spaces: the main entrance, the Colonnade, the Scotiabank Great Hall, and the concourse leading to the contemporary art galleries will be filled with artworks.

"The National Gallery of Canada is an accessible visual art-centered institution bringing the voice of the artists and our collection to life," said National Gallery of Canada Director and CEO, Dr. Sasha Suda. "As of November 7, our visitors will be immersed in art the moment they cross the threshold into the Gallery."

The title, Àbadakone, or "continuous fire" follows the 2013 exhibition Sakahàn, or "to light a fire".

The Gallery's fall season will kick off on October 5 in Edmonton, at the Art Gallery of Alberta, with the 2019 Sobey Art Award exhibition. The works of the five finalists for the country's most prestigious award in visual arts for Canadian artists aged 40 and under – Stephanie Comilang, Nicolas Grenier, Kablusiak, Anne Low, and D'Arcy Wilson – will be presented until January 5, 2020.

In Ottawa, starting October 11, the Gallery will present Hanran: 20th Century Japanese Photography, an exhibition of Japanese photography organized by the Yokohama Museum of Art in collaboration with the Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada. Shown outside Japan for the first time, the exhibition will feature more than 200 powerful images depicting key moments of social and political transformation in Japan's history during the Shōwa period (1926-1989). Opening on Thursday, October 10, starting at 6 pm.

Simultaneously, the works of the winners of the 2019 New Generation Photography Award, Luther Konadu, from Winnipeg, Manitoba; Ethan Murphy, from Toronto, Ontario, and Zinnia Naqvi, from Montréal, Québec, will be on view as part of the exhibition PhotoLab 6. Organized by the Canadian Photography Institute of the National Gallery of Canada in partnership with Scotiabank.

Beauty appears side by side with the grotesque through the representation of monsters and other creatures that have sprung from the imaginations of the most famous artists of the 15^th to 18^th centuries, including Albrecht Dürer, in the exhibition Beautiful Monsters in Early European Prints and Drawings (1450-1700), which opens November 29.

The iconic Gallery artwork More Sweetly Play the Dance by South African artist William Kentridge will open December 13 at the Gallery.

Culture Days
Admission to the National Gallery will be free on Sunday, September 29, to mark Culture Days. Kids and the whole family are invited to participate in the Family Sundays activities from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Scotiabank Great Hall. On the program: creating forest creatures, art hikes, skits and campfire songs on the theme The Art of Camping.