[BCMA] Media Release Kamloops Art Gallery | Beautiful Monsters, Picasso and unlimited edition exhibition openings January 17

[Moderated BCMA subscriber listserv.]

[Mantegna]

Andrea Mantegna
Battle of the Sea Gods (left side), c. 1485-1488
Engraving on laid paper, 28 x 42.7 cm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

MEDIA RELEASE

For immediate release from
Kamloops Art Gallery
January 8, 2014

[Description: KAG-inkjet rgb cropped.jpg]


Beautiful Monsters: Beasts and Fantastic Creatures in Early European Prints

Picasso's Beasts: Selections from the National Gallery of Canada

unlimited edition

January 17 to March 22, 2014

Exhibition tours by KAG Aboriginal Curator in Residence, Tania Willard and National Gallery Assistant Curator of European, American and Asian Prints and Drawings, Sonia Del Re:
Saturday January 17, 5:30 to 6:30pm

Opening Reception: Saturday January 17, 6:30 to 8pm

Three new exhibitions focused on the theme of monsters will fill the gallery walls for an unprecedented display until March 22nd. Beautiful Monsters: Beasts and Fantastical Creatures in Early European Prints, Picasso's Beasts: Selections from the National Gallery of Canada and unlimited edition will each present works by artists that depict the darker and yet playful underworld of beasts and mythical creatures.

Beautiful Monsters: Beasts and Fantastical Creatures in Early European Prints is a rare opportunity to see approximately fifty engravings, etchings and woodcuts from 15th, 16th, and 17th century artists such as Andrea Mantegna, Albrecht Dürer and Jacques Callot, drawn from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. These original prints made centuries ago depict mythological or allegorical themes that combine the grotesque and the beautiful, conveying a sense of the anxieties and fears of the time.

The Kamloops Art Gallery is also pleased to be able to include a key selection of Pablo Picasso's most celebrated series of etchings from The Vollard Suite, drawn from the National Gallery of Canada's permanent collection. The Vollard Suite takes its name from Ambroise Vollard, an important Parisian avant-garde art dealer and publisher who gave Picasso his first Paris exhibition in 1901. Picasso produced a group of one hundred etchings for Vollard between 1930 and 1937. Inspired by classical antiquity and grounded in Picasso's interest in bullfighting (born from his Spanish heritage), these etchings represent scenes of brutal passion enacted largely by the Minotaur. The part man and part bull of Greek mythology not only played a central role in Picasso's personal mythology, but was also emblematic for the Surrealists, who saw the Minotaur as the personification of forbidden desires.

Stories evoking the otherworld are present in all cultures and across all time periods. Artists play a significant role in visually re-counting these stories so that they remain rich in the collective imagination. unlimited edition is curated by Kamloops Art Gallery Aborginal Artist in Residence Tania Willard and looks at printmaking by indigenous artists represented in the KAG's permanent collection. Addressing ideas of story, culture(s) and social justice embodied in the history and medium of printmaking, the selected works explore the use of illustrative narrative to preserve, portray and popularize elements of oral histories and address social inequities. Included in the selection are vivid and colourful depictions of the sea monster, the lady giant, the thunderbird woman and the spirit owl.

Not to miss - these exhibitions offer an expanded view into printmaking techniques from the past and illustrate the enduring interest in beasts and fantastical creatures throughout the history of art production.

Please join us at the Kamloops Art Gallery on January 17th for the public and free tours starting at 5:30pm and opening reception at 6:30pm.

Please direct all media inquiries to Craig Willms, Assistant Curator, Kamloops Art Gallery,
(250) 377-2406 or cwillms at kag.bc.ca<mailto:jgordon at kag.bc.ca>


Craig Willms
Assistant Curator
Kamloops Art Gallery
T 250-377-2406
F 250-828-0662


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