OTTAWA.- Canadian and Indigenous Art: 1968 to Present, featuring more than 150 works of art by more than 100 artists, opened at the National Gallery of Canada. This major, year-long exhibition explores the many themes and movements that have shaped Canada’s visual arts landscape since 1968. It is part of the Gallery’s spring / summer programming titled: Our Masterpieces, Our Stories , which launched in April with the opening of the exhibition Photography in Canada, 1960-2000. Paintings, scultpures, photographs, video art, installation and drawings, are on display in 12 galleries located on two floors, until May 6, 2018.

“Canadian and Indigenous Art: 1968 to Present features outstanding works of Canadian artistic genius,” said National Gallery of Canada Director and CEO, Marc Mayer. “The public will appreciate the impressive legacy of our curators over the past 50 years and their diverse collecting approaches.”

The NGC’s Contemporary Galleries have been revamped to better show the variety, quality and depth of the collection – from the feminist art movement of the 1970s to present-day Inuit art. The curators’ selection include Shary Boyle’s work on paper, Untitled (the Porcelain Fantasy series), Joyce Wieland’s O Canada and Brian Jungen’s creations titled Shapeshifter and Vienna, made out of white plastic patio chairs and inspired by whale skeletons.

Visitors will discover new acquisitions on display for the first time, including Blue Obsession, 1983/2016, by Vikky Alexander; and Last Tasmanians/Badger, Manitoba, 1990, by Janice Gurney. General Idea’s three-part sculpture, Monday, Wednesday, Saturday, 1984, recently restored by the Gallery, is also on public display for the first time in several decades.

Works by Carl Beam, Rebecca Belmore, Geneviève Cadieux, Faye Heavyshield, Rodney Graham, Garry Neill Kennedy, Kelly Mark, Shelley Niro, Annie Pootoogook, Steven Shearer and Jeff Wall are also featured in Canadian and Indigenous Art: 1968 to Present.

Androgyny, a masterwork by renowned Canadian indigenous artist Norval Morrisseau, on loan from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada (INAC), is the only work in the exhibition from a collection outside the Gallery.

Drawings and photographs from the Gallery’s collection will be in rotation until May 2018 owing to their sensitivity to light. Visitors are encouraged to return to the Gallery to ensure they see the entire selection of artwork that will be on display throughout the year.