LOS ANGELES, CA.- Praz-Delavallade Los Angeles is hosting the Canadian Creative Accelerator (CCA), an initiative of the Consulate of Canada in LA, in presenting Northern Exposure, a multimedia survey exhibition of twenty-five artists from eight Canadian galleries. Northern Exposure opened on 27 February and will run through 21 March 2024.
Each of the eight Canadian galleries were selected by a jury of top art professionals from both Canada and the US; they include Gaëtane Verna (Executive Director of Wexner Center for the Arts and Curator of the Canadian Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale), Mary-Dailey Desmarais (Chief Curator, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts), Ebony L. Haynes (David Zwirner), Jessica Warren (White Cube), Jean-François Bélisle (CEO & Director of the National Gallery of Canada), as well as local art world professionals including Anthony Cran (Wilding Cran Gallery), Davida Nemeroff (Night Gallery), and Elisabeth Forney (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions).
The selected galleries and accompanying artists include: Blouin Division with Nicolas Baier, Marie-Claire Blais, Simon Hughes, and Scott McFarland; Bradley Ertaskiran with Preston Pavlis, and Joseph Tisiga; Feheley Fine Arts with George Arluk, Elizabeth Angrnaqquaq Qiayuq, and Shuvinai Ashoona, Killiktee Killiktee, and Idris Moss-Davies; Franz Kaka with Jennifer Carvalho, and Karice Mitchell; Olga Korper Gallery with Melanie Authier, Sandra Brewster, and Katherine Takpannie; Pangée with Grace Kalyta, and Darby Milbrath; Patel Brown with Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka, and Celia Perrin Sidarous; and Stephen Bulger Gallery with Nina Levitt, Sanaz Mazinani, and Deanna Pizzitelli. Northern Exposure is organized by LA-based curators Margot Ross and Michael Slenske.
The works in Northern Exposure include light box landscapes from Toronto-based photographer Scott McFarland (Blouin Division); two-sided artworks, created by California-born, Halifax-based artist Preston Pavlis (Bradley Ertaskiran) that comprise of tender figurative paintings on one side and intricate hand-crafted quilts on the other; hand-embroidered felt tapestries depicting native landscapes and the animals that inhabit them, by the late Inuit artist Elizabeth Angrnaqquaq Qiayuq (Feheley Fine Arts); digitally manipulated found images engaging with the representation of the Black female body in erotic and popular culture magazines from Karice Mitchell (Franz Kaka); lyrical abstractions mapping the terrain of natural environments and imaginary spaces by Montreal-based painter Melanie Authier (Olga Korper Gallery); sculptural works on paper from the Toronto-based Japanese-Canadian artist Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka (Patel Brown); paintings with denim, rhinestones, and rivets by Montreal-based Grace Kalyta (Pangée) explore adornment and spectacle; and a poetic photographic travelog of a multi-year sojourn in Slovakia, Europe, Canada, and parts of Latin America by Toronto-born artist Deanna Pizzitelli (Stephen Bulger Gallery).