CHRISTOPHER PRATT EXHIBITION AT THE WAG

Written by Natasha Markel Friday, 01 April 2011 01:33

WINNIPEG, MB - Christopher Pratt, one of Canada’s most revered artists, was the guest of honor at the public opening of the exhibition Christopher Pratt.  The exhibition continues at The Winnipeg Art Gallery until January 7, 2007.   Marking Pratt’s 70th birthday, this exhibition focuses on paintings from the past 20 years, featuring approximately 50 large-scale oil paintings of landscapes, buildings, interiors, and figures, as well as study drawings.

With family roots in Newfoundland and Labrador going back hundreds of years, Pratt has made his home province the source of his art.  Newfoundland is distinguished by its geography, climate, light, and architecture.  Pratt uses these subjects to explore the tensions between presence and absence, realism and abstraction.  The exhibition investigates the origins of the artist’s work, the evolution of the subject matter, and how the paintings correspond to Newfoundland’s social and political landscape and Pratt’s personal life.

The appeal of Pratt’s work lies in how he succeeds in translating local and personal experience into universal statements.  Although his art is inspired by his Atlantic province, Pratt’s work finds resonance with people in this part of the country as well.  There is a kinship between the wide open spaces of the Maritime landscape and those of the prairies that speaks to all of us.

This exhibition has been organized and circulated by the National Gallery of Canada.  It is supported by The Dorothy Strelsin Foundation and the Canada Council for the Arts.

Established in 1912, the Winnipeg Art Gallery - WAG - is Western Canada’s oldest public art gallery, mandated to develop and maintain Manitoba’s visual arts heritage.  As one of Canada’s leading galleries, it collects and exhibits works of art by Manitoba, Canadian, and international artists.

Visit the Winnipeg Art Gallery at : www.wag.mb.ca