Artists: Lionel Allingham, Maxwell Bates, Scott Bertram, Angela Bulloch, James Carl, Renée Condo, Robert Guest, Brian Jungen, Beth Letain, Kristy Logan, Laura Marotta, Elizabeth McIntosh, Nadia Myre, Marion Nicoll, Roula Partheniou, Teagan Skin, Larissa Tiggelers

Curators: Jessica Groome and Laura Marotta

Shape of Shape is the third exhibition in an ongoing series using the Gallery’s vault as a starting point. Bringing together works from the permanent collection, renowned Canadian artists and student work from Northwestern Polytechnic, Shape of Shape creates dialogue responsive to this region and moment in time.

The exhibition takes its title from a 2020 project at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in which artist Amy Sillman was invited to curate an artist-choice selection of the museum’s collection. The concept placed shape firmly at the centre of her decision-making. Here, at the Art Gallery of Grande Prairie, curators Laura Marotta and Jessica Groome adopt a similar approach, foregrounding shape as a generative force throughout the exhibition. Their interest in abstraction began during their graduate studies, where they first met, and has continued through professional paths that eventually brought them both to Grande Prairie. Laura is a Visual Arts and Design Instructor at Northwestern Polytechnic, and Jessica is Executive Director and Chief Curator at the Gallery.

Shape of Shape is an inquiry into how shape can operate as a structural framework, a space for formal play and a vehicle for metaphor. The exhibition connects distinct works and practices across very different materials, forms and approaches, making relationships more interesting than any single shared style. These artists, these works and this arrangement are only one possibility. Another version would create a completely different shape, which you, the viewer, are invited to imagine.

We acknowledge the support of the Province of Alberta through the Alberta Foundation for the Arts, the Canada Council for the Arts, the City of Grande Prairie, the County of Grande Prairie No. 1, the Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association Destination Marketing Fund and the M.D. of Greenview.