Four New Exhibitions at Woodstock Art Gallery

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Thursday, 3 November 2022 05:53

By Brad Kraemer

The Woodstock Art Gallery has four new exhibitions and you'll be able to check them out during an open house this Saturday.

WOODSTOCK - The Woodstock Art Gallery has four new exhibitions on display for the next few months.

The art will be on view through January 21st, and the theme is "challenging."

The exhibitions are titled Fountain, Difficult, Hyperreal, and Our Furry Friends. Fountain explores the unexpected connection between a downtown Woodstock landmark and renowned French artist Marcel Duchamp.

The Maid of the Mist, also known as Pattullo fountain, is a centerpiece of Museum Square and was purchased in 1916 from the same company that fabricated Duchamp’s controversial Fountain (1917), a readymade sculpture of a porcelain urinal. It is considered one of the most significant artworks of the 20th century, and it is on loan from the National Gallery of Canada.

Head of Collections Jessica Benjak-Waterous explains the significance of having an art piece from the National Gallery of Canada in the Friendly City.

"This is the first time the National Gallery of Canada is loaning artwork to the Woodstock Art Gallery since it's moved from the John White building. It's quite a famous piece. Lots of people know about it and are quite surprised that it's at our art gallery but it is. We're super excited."

The theme of challenging artwork continues with Difficult. It is inspired by the recent acquisition of large-scale paintings from artist Tony Scherman’s Difficult Women series, the exhibition highlights artwork from the Gallery’s permanent collection that is problematic or challenging in terms of content, subject matter and presentation.

An accompanying exhibition, Glenn Elliot: Hyperreal, showcases a series of large-scale, homoerotic pop sculptures created by the Stratford, Ont., artist in the early 1970s. The exhibition pulls together works from the series including Jeans, which has been a fan-favourite at the Woodstock Art Gallery since the 1990s.

On the lighter side, Our Furry Friends is a more family-friendly exhibition that features artwork of cats and dogs from the permanent collection, along with photos and artifacts from the Woodstock Museum and videos submitted by community members.

Benjak-Waterous explained why the art gallery has gone with the challenging theme.

"As a gallery, we are continuously inviting our community to engage with art that reflects a diverse range of aesthetics, ideas and experiences. Basically, from a porcelain urinal to a charming oil painting of St. Bernard dogs, we're hoping these four exhibitions provoke conversations and encourage visitors to question their own beliefs about art."

There will be an open house with guided exhibitions as well as a lecture on the Museum Square fountain. It will be held on Saturday, November 5th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Submitted photo - Marcel Duchamp, French (b. 1887), Fountain, 1917 (5th version — 1964), painted glazed earthenware and oil paint, 36 x 48 x 61 cm, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, Purchase 1971 © Association Marcel Duchamp /ADAGP, Paris / SOCAN, Montreal (2022)

Submitted photo - Pattullo Fountain in Museum Square in downtown Woodstock.

Submitted photo - Florence Carlyle, Canadian (1864–1923), St. Bernard, 1897, oil on canvas, 28.20 x 39.00 cm, Gift of Edna Naylor, 1983, Woodstock Art Gallery Permanent Collection.

Submitted photo - Tony Scherman, Canadian (b. 1950), Malala, 2014–2015, encaustic on canvas, 122.00 x 114.00 cm, Gift of the Artist, Tony Scherman, Woodstock Art Gallery Permanent Collection.

Submitted photo - Glenn Elliott, American/Canadian (1941–2017), Jeans, 1973, Sculpture, oil on fiberglass, 158.00 x 64.00 x 46.00 cm, Bequest of Bruce Flowers, Woodstock Art Gallery Permanent Collection. Photo Credit: Joseph Hartman.