Wilf Perreault has made a reputation for himself as one of Saskatchewan’s most popular artists with his scenes of Prairie back lanes. Perreault’s urban nightscapes are full of a magical, ephemeral beauty and not the harsh, garbage-infested landscape with rusted-out cars and sagging fences that residents in older neighbourhoods typically see when they look out their back windows. With his precise brushstrokes, he captures the reflection of water in snow-covered alleys, the skeletons of trees silhouetted against dark wintry skies, and uncannily realistic light. His paintings have been described as “dreamy, pensive meditations on the way we go about our lives.” The warmth and accessibility of his work have made Perreault hugely popular in Regina, where, two years ago, hometown fans lined up outside a local gallery exhibiting his art and bought everything within minutes of the door’s opening. The former high school teacher has also gained a following across Canada and the U.S. His show at the Douglas Udell Gallery celebrates the 30th anniversary of the artist’s first exhibition at the gallery. Showing until March 14 at Douglas Udell Gallery.douglasudellgallery.com
Lovely Lanes
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Spring is popping out in bright, primary colour at The Portal Art Gallery with new works by Cheri and Giselle Denis. The mother-daughter artists own the gallery that features their work, as well as that of established and emerging local artists. The two are third- and fourth-generation, self-taught female artists. Their art is largely nature-based and reflects the deep sense of spirituality that imbues both women’s lives. Giselle has wonderful childhood memories of growing up on her family’s acreage near Elk Island Park. “My mother used to hold me in her arms while she painted in the kitchen,” says Giselle, who also writes songs and performs in local coffeehouses. “I learned to love the smell of paint and the sound of the thick and juicy brush on canvas. Art’s in my blood.” Showing throughout March at The Portal Gallery. theportalgallery.com
All in the Family
In the 'Hood
While the back alleys of Edmonton’s McKernan neighbourhood have inspired the work of Kari Duke, in her fourth annual spring show at the Front Gallery she has ventured further afield with street-front views of Garneau, Whyte Avenue, Old Strathcona and paintings of the river valley. “People respond to the familiarity and comfort of her images,” says gallery owner Gregorie Barber.
Duke didn’t feel any inspiration to paint when she moved back to the city in mid-January, nine years ago. After living in British Columbia for 25 years, she’d forgotten how cold Alberta winters could be. Her children were grown, she missed B.C.’s lush mountain views and her community there. But when spring came, she began to notice the beauty that lay outside her back door: the sunlight reflecting off the puddles; the fence posts tilting just so; the laundry flapping on clotheslines. “The back alleys reminded me of my childhood,” says Duke, a former child-care worker who now paints full-time.“It’s where we met our friends and our lives were played out.” Showing from March 10 to 28 at the Front Gallery. thefrontgallery.com
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Twist on Tradition
In 1994, Tatjana Mirkov-Popovicki left Serbia for western Canada and immediately fell in love with the sumptuous beauty of her new surroundings. She picked up the paintbrush to express her feelings and began to study art for the first time.
The result? “European passion meets the Group Seven — with a unique twist,” is how Brent Luebke, owner of Lando Gallery puts it. Mirkov-Popovicki’s current show features landscapes from western Alberta and B.C., along a well-loved route that she and her husband, Sinisa, travel almost every year. “You feel so humbled when you stand inside those grand vistas,” says Mirkov-Popovicki. “They resist being captured on canvas, but you try to invoke a fragment of the awe you feel.” Her landscapes are known for their energetic, bold brush strokes and dissonant colours. The clean lines of her work reflect her profession as an electrical engineer. “Artists and engineers have more in common than you’d think,” says Mirkov-Popovicki, who is also a portrait painter, and works for a Vancouver company that designs computer chips. Showing from March 6 to 28 at Lando Gallery. landogallery.com
Voyer’s Triumph
In the early ’70s, Sylvain Voyer co-founded the artist-run gallery Latitude 53 to exhibit the kind of art that was not being widely shown by “the establishment.” It provided a venue for work based on fresh new ideas being explored by such young Prairie artists as Joe Fafard, ManWoman, Harry Savage — and Voyer himself.
Thirty-five years later, the biggest establishment gallery that Voyer once rebelled against — the Edmonton Art Gallery, now known as the Art Gallery of Alberta — is showcasing his work in a survey of more than 100 paintings, including about 20 recent canvases.
The show spans the four distinct periods of his career: early Pop Art modernism, his landmark views of Edmonton, surrealist Mexican representations and sweeping Alberta landscapes. Of those periods, his best known is the latter, featuring Alberta Big Sky Country paintings with neon-yellow canola fields and dazzling blue skies. “It’s a challenge to capture that raw, elemental quality and to express its subtlety, too,” says Voyer, a plein-air (outdoors) painter who now makes his home in Claresholm.
“Sylvain understands the Alberta landscape from his very bones,” says Marcus Miller, the AGA’s assistant curator. “He’s taught us to look at it in a whole new way. And at 70, he’s doing some of the best painting of his career.” Showing until March 22 at the Art Gallery of Alberta. artgalleryalberta.com
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