If you’ve been delaying getting out to the summer shows at Calgary galleries because you had plenty of time well time is starting to run out. At Glenbow this is the last weekend to catch the Masterworks from the Beaverbrook Art Gallery exhibition as well as A Singular Vision: Eric Harvie Collects Art. (If you don’t make it in time you can still catch Bee Kingdom: Iconoclasts in Glass until September 28.)
In Inglewood the Esker Foundation’s summer exhibition features Cynthia Gerard’s seemingly cute and innocent images of small creatures but the devil is in the details which reveal themes of class struggle social utopias and the game of politics and power. Titled Unicorns and Dictators curator Naomi Potter writes that “Her paintings and sculptures borrow from the lineage of Political Theatre: theatre by of and for the people. Girard picks freely from Western history to select costumes and props bringing together a commanding cast of unlikely characters settings and struggles with an absurdist hand and a comic voice creating something that sparkles like a fairy tale but delivers the somber punch of social satire.” The exhibition runs until September 7.
At C2 in the municipal building John Clark: A Tribute is on exhibition until August 31. You can read more about the artist who was a friend of Contemporary Calgary’s Jeffrey Spalding on this page. And in next week’s issue of Fast Forward Weekly you can read about local collage artist and award-winning filmmaker Zac Slams’ Crime and Punishment which is described as “an exhibition of brutal new collages that challenge and subvert conventional attitudes towards gender sexuality violence and the law.” That show runs until September 6 at Untitled Art Society.
Opera in the Village is heading into its second and final weekend and the warm cider hot popcorn and giant tent should be enough to combat the somewhat soggy forecast. Calgary Opera’s Bob McPhee describes the main performance Candide as “zany” and that’s entirely accurate — like The Pirates of Penzance at the event’s 2013 debut this operetta is a fun light tongue-in-cheek production with plenty of laughs. The festival also includes one-hour productions of a family-friendly Hansel and Gretel outdoor movies karaoke and more. Once Canada’s only outdoor opera festival has two seasons under its belt it will be interesting to see what Calgary Opera chooses for next year — something slightly less comical perhaps?
The Gallery of Alberta Media Arts (GAMA) at the Epcor Centre will be presenting a new batch of short films on the building’s monitors starting Friday August 22 including Long Tracer a meditative study of light as a communicator of energy by Nika Blasser; Spectator or Storyteller created by Jenna Braid from spontaneous video footage recorded in Mexico City as an exploration of movement through urban spaces; and Accumulated Imperfection which examines how people connect to the world around them by Aran Wilkinson-Blanc. Presented in co-operation with the Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society and Casa (Lethbridge) GAMA provides support and ongoing prominent screening space for Alberta media artists and curators.
