GIFTS AND GESTURES is the most anticipated unveiling of an acquisition into the Permanent Collection in recent history. The painting by the Abstract Expressionist painter William Perehudoff, represents the largest undertaking the gallery has made in the conservation of a work of national significance for future generations. Initiated by the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, the project charts the care that was taken in restoration of the painting while also documenting the gesture of gifting as being symbolic of the whole texture of exchanges that accumulate on the surface of the painting. As it has been transferred from artist to patron and through both public and private acts of gifting, the painting will be seen by the public for the first time in over thirty years.
The project will be accompanied by an artist book and a limited-edition artwork. Co-authored by Derrick Chang the Curator of Exhibitions and Collections and the artist Benny Nemerofsky Ramsay, the publication explores the notion of art and gift economy through both written and artistic expression.
This exhibition was curated by Derrick Chang
