Opening Reception | Manuel Mathieu and Curtis Talwst Santiago

Join us on the evening of Friday, May 27th to celebrate and honour the artists and curators of Manuel Mathieu: World Discovered Under Other Skies and Curtis Talwst Santiago: Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil. 

Members will have a preview of the exhibitions at 6pm with opening remarks to begin at 6:20pm. As this event is during Members' Week, Members can bring a non-Member guest for free.

The public will have access to the opening from 7:30-9pm.

About the Exhibitions

Manuel Mathieu: World Discovered Under Other Skies

Montreal-based artist, Manuel Mathieu, is known for vibrant, colourful paintings that seamlessly merge abstraction with figuration. His work reflects on our intertwined lives, in which the boundaries between the past and the present or the personal and political are often blurred. Sharing recollections that depict everyday scenes and familial bonds, Mathieu also blends into his canvases an interrogation of the complex history of his birthplace, Haiti. By unearthing the traumas of state violence, he addresses issues that remain as urgent today as they have been throughout Haitian history.

Manuel Mathieu: World Discovered Under Other Skies is organized and circulated by The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto, in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Alberta, and is curated by Amin Alsaden.

Curtis Talwst Santiago: Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil

This exhibition is for Curtis Santiago’s parents and for all the parents of the diaspora whose traditions live on in their children. Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil documents the stories about Trinidadian carnival that Santiago grew up with. This exhibition celebrates the processions, stories and characters of J’ouvert, the start of carnival. During this parade, bodies and faces are painted, and revellers dress up as devil characters or Jab Jabs who can be simultaneously frightening, joyous, antagonistic, and dangerous. J’ouvert and this exhibition are a celebration of ancestors and represent a liberation from the constraints of the past.

Curtis Talwst Santiago: Pay de Devil - Brang! Brang! - Pay de Devil is organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and curated by Lindsey Sharman.

During the evening, we will also be celebrating three current AGA exhibitions - Sidney Kelsie: Right in Your Own Backyard; Water-Wise, River-Breath: Reframing design's role with water and Tiffany Shaw's Edmonton River Valley. 

Sidney Kelsie: Right in Your Own Backyard celebrates the joyful and wondrous work of Edmonton folk artist Sidney Kelsie (1928-2000).

Water-Wise, River Breath: Reframing design’s role with water reveals the human relationship to water by examining the watersheds of the North Saskatchewan River and Ecuadorian Amazonia. This exhibition is presented by the Poole Centre of Design and sponsored by Enbridge. 

Tiffany Shaw's piece, Edmonton River Valley, is presented with the generous support of Capital Power as part of the Capital Powered Art program.