From the Editor - May 23, 2023 Issue

May 22, 2023

9:30 PM

Western Canada's art magazine since 2002

Portia Priegert

From the Editor

The psychology of artists can be fascinating – not only why they make the things they do, but also the twists and turns of their careers. Why, for instance, do some artists make names for themselves, while others, equally talented, languish? What formative influences shaped them, giving them the strength to thrive amid the uncertainties of a creative life?

If you also ponder such things, I recommend Katherine Ylitalo’s fascinating essay about a remarkable artist, Attila Richard Lukacs. When Katherine first reached out about his upcoming show, In Helen’s Garden, at the Herringer Kiss Gallery in Calgary, I sensed the makings of a great story. If you remember Attila’s work from several decades ago, when he leaped to fame with gritty, erotically charged paintings of German skinheads, you might be surprised, as I was, to learn that he also paints beautiful florals of great delicacy for his family and friends.

Attila’s mother was an avid gardener, and in 2021 he spent time painting in her backyard, mingling its flowers and garden ornaments with references to art history, world religions and popular culture. He was helping care for Helen as she declined with dementia, and he painted through his grief, tackling eternal philosophical questions about life – and death – to produce a magical body of work. Katherine, mining her decades-long friendship with the family and a shared love of gardening, deftly weaves an enchanting essay that reveals how Helen modelled love and creativity for a young Attila, creating fertile soil for his imagination to blossom.

While thinking about our writers, I also want to offer a shout-out to Sarah Swan, a longtime contributor who recently won a top prize at the Alberta Magazine Awards for an essay she wrote about astonishing developments in art and artificial intelligence. And, finally, kudos to Zainub Verjee, who writes occasional commentaries on cultural policy for Galleries West. She will receive an honorary doctorate next month at the University of Victoria.

As always, we have posted six stories over the last two weeks. They include a look at new work by Peter Doig, including the inaugural exhibition of a series of prints about his friendship with Derek Walcott, the 1992 winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, who, like Doig, has ties to Canada. If you’re lucky enough to be in London, you can check it out at The Courtauld, where Shazia Hafiz Ramji, a former Galleries West intern, took a break from her doctoral research to review it.

As well, Lissa Robinson reviews Elemental, with work by three senior Canadian artists – Martha Townsend, Stéphane La Rue and Al McWilliams, while Paul Gessell looks at Patricia Bovey, an art historian who has just retired from the Canadian Senate. Yani Kong reviews emerging artist Svava Tergesen’s critique of glossy food photography, and Megan Klak, another former intern, considers an amusingly irreverent show, Ornament & Crime, which invited craft artists to make work defending the decorative.

Looking ahead, we are working on stories about Rajni Perera, Sadia Fakih and Gwen MacGregor, among other artists.

Until next time,