news | Wednesday June 29, 2016

Opening this Friday at the Vancouver Art Gallery: Colin Browne’s Emily Carr and Wolfgang Paalen exhibit

I Had an Interesting French Artist to See Me This Summer: Emily Carr and Wolfgang Paalen in British Columbia is a new exhibit curated by Talon poet Colin Browne. It opens on Friday evening, July 1, 2016 and runs until November 13. The exhibit, mounted at the Vancouver Art Gallery (750 Hornby Street, Vancouver, BC), will explore the encounter between Wolfgang Paalen and Emily Carr.

This first pairing of the Modernist painters Wolfgang Paalen (1905–1959) and Emily Carr (1871–1945) will tell the story of how the artists met in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1939, and how the creative vision of each expanded in reaction to the majestic landscape of British Columbia and the monumental art of the Northwest Coast First Nations. With artworks assembled from public and private collections internationally, the exhibition will present early works, ancillary archival materials and the audacious later work of both artists as they moved toward their transcendent visions.

Join guest curator Colin Browne for the Curator’s Tour on Saturday, July 16 at 3 PM on the 4th floor of the Gallery. Browne will share his extensive original research about the meeting of Emily Carr and Surrealist painter Wolfgang Paalen in Victoria, BC, in 1939, and will discuss the exceptional work created by both artists before and after their encounter. The Curator’s Tour is free for Members or with Gallery admission.

More information about the exhibit is available here, and the exhibit catalogue is available from Figure 1 Publishing.