On October 11, the Kelowna Art Gallery celebrated the launch of their new exhibition Rise/Fall: Works from the Permanent Collection. Art enthusiasts can now browse nearly 100 works of art pulled from the Kelowna Art Gallery’s vault.
“Visitors will have the opportunity to experience a diverse range of art mediums including sculpture, installation, video, fibre arts, painting, drawing, photography, and printmaking,” says Nataley Nagy, Gallery Director. “There really is something for everyone to see.”
Rise/Fall explores the links and relationships between the human body and the landscape through the artwork selected from their collection, which now boasts over 1,000 pieces.
Guests can view the incredible work of Canadian artists such as A. Y. Jackson, Daphne Odjig, Gordon Smith, and Susan Point, along with contemporary artists from British Columbia, such as Christos Dikeakos, Germaine Koh, Ho Tam, and Samuel Roy-Bois, among others.
For example, audiences will encounter a stark northern Canadian landscape as depicted by A.Y Jackson in Barren Lands near Atnick Lake (1961); but also, a human-manufactured landscape captured by Vancouver-based artist Christos Dikeakos in Foreground Study, Cucumber Greenhouse (2000).
These works are placed in discussion with and contrasted by the intimacy of the portraits on view, such as Daphne Odjig’s print entitled Enfolding (1992) that depicts two figures entwined in each other’s arms; or Vancouver-based artist Ho Tam’s beautiful, but emotionally layered series Ghost Image (2008), which features negative images of old photographs that narrate the life and death of a gay man in the midst of AIDS.
“Rise/Fall invites visitors to think critically about how the land shapes, and is shaped by, human presence and activity,” says Curator Christine May. “This exhibition highlights the ongoing dialogue between people and their environments, underscoring how art reflects and informs our understanding of the world around us.”
Rise/Fall: Works from the Permanent Collection is on view at the Kelowna Art Gallery from October 5, 2024 to January 26, 2025. The exhibition is presented with support from DTEC. It is curated by Christine May and Clea Haugo.
The Kelowna Art Gallery is located at 1315 Water Street in the heart of Kelowna’s Culture District. For more information visit kelownaartgallery.com or call 250-762-2226.