David Altmejd: The Vessel
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Winnipeg Art Gallery | Qaumajuq 300 Memorial Blvd, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 1V1
David Altmejd, "The Vessel (detail)," 2011
plexiglas, chain, plaster, wood, thread, wire, acrylic paint, epoxy resin, epoxy clay, acrylic gel, granular medium, quartz, pyrite, assorted minerals, adhesive, wire, pins and needles, 102.5” x 244” x 86.5” National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa ©David Altmejd Photo ©NGC
NGC@WAG’s 12th exhibition to date brings the work of David Altmejd to Winnipeg.
The Vessel (2011) features plaster casts of the artist’s hands which serve as heads of graceful swans in flight. By combining human features associated with the senses and a bird of symbolic stature in poetry and myth, Altmejd conjures movement and metamorphosis. The Vessel also references another kind of transformation, relating to the act of artistic creation itself.
Altmejd represented Canada at the Venice Biennale of Visual Art in 2007 and was the winner of the Sobey Art Award in 2009.