Mary Pratt

Mary Pratt

Opening Celebration, Friday May 23, 7:30 pm | Free Admission

Curator Led Tour, Saturday May 24, 2 pm | Free Admission

May 17 to August 24, 2014
 

The MacKenzie Art Gallery is pleased to present a five-decade retrospective which celebrates renowned Newfoundland and Labrador artist Mary Pratt. In the 1960s, Mary Pratt became fascinated by light on the surfaces of everyday objects in her home. She began to create powerful oil paintings, using a camera to capture her initial images: the first in this genre, Supper Table (1969) is displayed in this exhibition. Other iconic works included are Eviscerated Chickens (1971), Service Station (1978) and Jelly Shelf (1999).

Nuances of tone, brushstroke, angle and choice of subject leave viewers of Mary Pratt’s images with a sense of wonder and, sometimes, unease. Highly contemporary yet rooted in the traditions of art history, Mary Pratt’s work reveals the breadth of emotion, skill and maturity this artist brings to her practice.

Image: Mary Pratt, Jelly Shelf, 1999 (detail), oil on canvas, 55.9 x 71.1 cm, Collection of Equinox Gallery, Vancouver, Photography: Ned Pratt, St. John’s.

The Mary Pratt exhibition is a project by The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, St. John’s, NL, and The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, NS, with support from the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage, Museums Assistance Program, and also from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador.