From the Editor

Western Canada's art magazine since 2002

15 August 2017  Vol 2 No 17  ISSN 2561-3316  © 2017

From the Editor

I found myself musing about the shows we feature in these pages in the wake of a new book by art historian Anne Whitelaw that explores the early development of public art galleries in Western Canada. The prompt was her observations about the paternalism of the National Gallery of Canada, including recent partner initiatives to bring work from Ottawa to the Art Gallery of Alberta and the Winnipeg Art Gallery. We have written about the National Gallery's regional shows – they are usually interesting fare, after all, even if some time has lapsed since their launch in Central Canada.

Here at Galleries West, we try to find a balance between stories about Western artists at Western galleries and interesting shows in Western Canada by artists who live in other parts of Canada, or even elsewhere in the world. Is that a disservice to Western artists? In some ways, yes. But I also think our readers – and many of them are artists – want to know about interesting shows and hear about new ideas, no matter where the artists are based.

How do we define balance? Along with regional concerns, we think about several other things. One is gender, because women artists have traditionally received less coverage than their male counterparts. We also make an effort to write about Indigenous artists and artists from under-represented minorities. Then, of course, there's the type of art produced – we look for a good mix of themes, subjects, and even media, whether it's painting, sculpture, installation, photography or something else.

There's no formula to figure this all out, and even if there were, it would probably be unworkable. Our choices are largely guided by what galleries are showing. Some weeks we scramble to find things to write about. Other weeks, there are tough choices to be made from a plethora of great shows.

Our aim, over the long term, is to cover many different artists from different places doing different types of work. Of course, the risk is that Galleries West may end up feeling unfocused – it doesn't cater exclusively to high art, but isn't truly populist either. Still, with arts writing in a free fall amid the collapse of traditional media models and uncertain visions for digital replacements – there is value in a generalist vision.

This issue covers everything from Stages, an ambitious Winnipeg project that takes contemporary art outside the white cube, to an immersive drawing installation in Victoria and a quirky photo-based installation that looks at small-town roadside attractions. We also cover two commercial shows, one of landscape paintings and another that disrupts clichéd ways of representing women. And, of course, there's our look at Whitelaw's book, Places and Spaces for Art, which prompted all this musing in the first place.

We always welcome feedback from our readers. What articles do you enjoy? What topics are we neglecting? What would you feature if you were the editor? Please drop us a line at editor@gallerieswest.ca. We'll read everything you send.

Until next time,

CONTRIBUTORS THIS ISSUE: Stacey Abramson, Lissa Robinson, Lorna Tureski