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Exhibitions Gallery Level 1

WONDER: the real, the surreal, and the fantastic

September 23, 2023 - January 7, 2024

AGH Members Free

What is ‘reality’ today? What does it mean to be ‘real’? Is there even such a thing?

In an age of reality shows, fake news, and weakened social and political structures, our sense of reality is quickly shifting. Neither fixed nor factual, our individual realities can exist alongside one another’s and never meet.

This moment in time led to the idea of creating an exhibition around the idea of reality and sur-reality, or in art terms: Realism, Surrealism and the Fantastic.  This exhibition explores the relationship between a logical view of life and the unconscious mind, fantasies, and the dream world.

The artists in this show find magic in the unexpected and the unnatural, the overlooked and the odd.  Their work challenges values and norms in search of new realities and freedom. Here, imagination is front and centre and driven by the psychological rather than the logical.

Organized by theme, the exhibition brings together works by historical and contemporary artists who reflect and reimagine the body and the everyday in staging new and provocative worlds.

Artists Include: Kim Adams, Stephen Altena, Robin Arseneault, Iain Baxter&, Shary Boyle, Alex Colville, DaveandJenn, Chun Hua Catherine Dong, Fausta Facciponte, Michelle Forsyth, Gilbert Garcin, Karine Giboulo, Richard Greck, John Hall, Peter Harris, Carmela Laganse, JeeYoung Lee, Louis de Niverville, Emmanuel Nwogbo, Meret Oppenheim, Evan Penny, Rick Pottruff, Christopher Pratt, Mary Pratt, Cesar Santander, Sarah Sproule, stylo starr, Tim Whiten, Chloe Wise, Xiaojing Yan.

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Header Image: Stephen Altena, The Frolic Trellis, 2023, mixed media installation. Installation photo of WONDER: the real, the surreal, and the fantastic exhibition by Robert McNair.

Feature Image: Jeeyoung Lee, La Vie En Rose, 2016. ©JeeYoung Lee, Photo courtesy of the Artist.


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From the International Art Collection


Bekom Mask mid 19th Century

Unidentified Artist (Kom Kingdom, 19th century)

wood and pigments, The Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Collection, 2010

See This Collection
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