Gordon Smith Gallery unveils comic-inspired exhibition Playhouse, September 20, 2024 to February 27, 2025
Curated by Annie Canto and Amelia Epp, works by more than 20 Canadian artists offer a transformative viewing of vivid stories and characters
SPONSORED POST BY Gordon Smith Gallery
Parvin Peivandi’s Utopian Rug, 2023, ceramic figures with glaze and acrylic paint, 121.92 x 91.44 cm.
The Gordon Smith Gallery of Canadian Art is presenting Playhouse, a new exhibition curated by Annie Canto and Amelia Epp, from September 20, 2024 to February 27, 2025. An Opening Reception with light refreshments and handcrafted cider provided by Bowen Cider House kicks things off on September 20 from 6 pm to 8 pm, and a Curator’s Tour with Canto and Epp takes place on September 26 from 3:30 pm to 4:30 pm.
Featuring artworks from over 20 Canadian artists, Playhouse presents the Gordon Smith Gallery as a place to experience stories, meet characters, and transform inhabited spaces, unveiling hidden narratives. The exhibition allows viewers to consider ways in which the physical, social, cultural, and imagined qualities of a place are intertwined.
Playhouse is inspired by comics, broadly interpreted as characters acting in frames, asserting control over their own narratives. Comics are accessible forms of sequential storytelling where the reader builds a relationship with characters over time. Throughout the exhibition, visitors can interpret sculptures, animation, paintings, and textiles containing active forms and figures performing within their panels.
Sandeep Johal’s I am easy to find, 2024, 13-colour serigraph on Stonehenge paper, 18 x 24 inches, edition of 30.
Works by contemporary Canadian artists Whess Harman, Hannah Jickling, Reed H. Reed, Guná Jensen, and Cindy Mochizuki are shown alongside the Artists for Kids Permanent Collection. Perspectives of Lower Mainland elementary and secondary students are featured through textile artworks and zines.
More exhibiting artists include Sandeep Johal, Sara Khan, Annie Canto, Karin Bubaš, Setsuko Piroche, Leonhard Epp, Etienne Zack, Parvin Peivandi, Gathie Falk, Roz Marshall, Jane Ash Poitras, Helen Kalvak, Tukuki, Geoffrey Farmer, Jack Shadbolt, Victor Cicansky, Sylvia Tait, Anne Meredith Barry, Joan Smith, Barbara Zeigler, and the Vancouver School Collective.
Happening simultaneously in the lobby of the Gordon Smith Gallery is a preview of the Artists for Kids 2024 Fall Portfolio, a collection of limited edition prints by artists across Canada, all who have previously worked directly with children and youth through the Artist for Kids educational programs. Limited edition prints featured in this year's Fall Portfolio will include work by Sandeep Johal, Sara Khan, Samuel Roy-Bois, and Anna Binta Diallo, available for acquisition November 7th.
Selected works from Arnold Shives' Sky Pilot Mountain Series, curated by John K. Grande, will also be exhibited in the lobby from September 20 to October 26, 2024.
Folks interested in attending the Opening Reception or Curator’s Tour for Playhouse must RSVP online. For more details, visit the Gordon Smith Gallery.
Post sponsored by Gordon Smith Gallery.