Forty-year survey of works on paper by nationally known artist Landon Mackenzie opens at Kelowna Art Gallery

Landon Mackenzie, Untitled (Blue Stairs), 2008, ink and gesso on paper, 46 x 51 cm.

Image Credit: Photo: SITE Photography

October 23, 2015 - 10:10 AM

Landon Mackenzie: Parallel Journey: Works on Paper (1975-2015)

October 24, 2015 to January 17, 2016

KELOWNA - Artist Landon Mackenzie literally brought suitcases full of works to the Kelowna Art Gallery in preparation for her expansive new exhibition entitled Parallel Journey: Works on Paper (1975-2015). The suitcases are strangely fitting as many of these works were completed while the artist travelled to various locations around the world during the past four decades. The result is a visually rich show, packed with works that provide visitors with an intimate and captivating experience.

Landon Mackenzie is a nationally known, Vancouver-based artist, admired for her large-scale works with paint on canvas. Less known are her works on paper often created while travelling, which she produces voluminously as a tandem practice (or what might be considered a parallel creative journey) to her big paintings. Somewhere between jottings and “finished” works intended for public exhibition, these small paintings speak to the deepest level of human creativity. They function at times as glimpses into this intelligent artist’s psyche or soul.

Visitors will get to see this in Mackenzie’s works on paper, from her student etchings created while studying printmaking as an undergraduate at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax, to her work throughout the 1990s that incorporated the artist’s interest in neural mapping: the charting of brain and nerve impulses. This interest also led to her to begin combining images and motifs from city maps, of all time periods, with images of the human brain. This journey can also be seen in Mackenzie’s more recent work completed while living in Berlin in 2007 and 2013, occupying the Canada Council Paris studio in 2009, and during her time on the road as a speaker or visiting artist.

Landon Mackenzie: Parallel Journey will be on view at the Kelowna Art Gallery from October 24, 2015 to January 17, 2016. The exhibition is accompanied by a multi-authored, 196-page book published by Black Dog Publishing in the UK. After its Kelowna run the exhibition will be going on a national tour.

An opening reception to celebrate this exhibition will be held on Friday, October 23, 2015 from 7:00 to 9:00 pm, at the Kelowna Art Gallery. This is a free event, open to Gallery members and guests, by invitation. Landon Mackenzie will be in attendance and will be offering a public tour of the exhibition at 6:15 pm.

The Kelowna Art Gallery is located at 1315 Water Street in downtown Kelowna. For more information about current exhibitions, public programming or special events, please visit the Kelowna Art Gallery online at www.kelownaartgallery.com or call 250-762-2226.