Wanda Koop “Interplay” — May 2-31, 2014

Exhibition of Wanda Koop’s newest body of work “Interplay”: archival prints that combine Koop’s ethereal paintings with her photographs. New paintings from the new series “Strata” will also be featured in our middle gallery.

“With “Interplay”, I am able to merge painting and photography for the first time – two mediums that I have worked with repeatedly throughout my lifetime of art making. These archival prints are derived from photos and paintings made in the last five years. “Interplay” has a direct lineage to my earlier video scroll poems of the 1990s and speaks to the history of painting and photography in my practice, how one expands from and influences the other, translating observation and experience into a hybridized poetic visual read.” Wanda Koop

Wanda Koop is one of Canada’s most distinguished and inventive artists. Her career spans three decades and includes over 50 solo exhibitions. Born in Vancouver, BC in 1951, the daughter of Russian Mennonite immigrants, Koop graduated from the University of Manitoba School of Art in 1973. She has travelled extensively, exhibiting in Canada, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Japan, USA and Italy (in conjunction with 2001 Venice Biennale) and most recently in India and China.

Koop has received numerous awards, including an induction to the Order of Canada in 2006. She received her Doctor of Letters from the University of Winnipeg in 2002 and from the Emily Carr Institute of Art & Design in 2007. In May 2009 Koop received her third honourary degree, a Doctor of Law, from the University of Manitoba. Koop is also known for her community work, particularly the founding of the successful Art City Project (1998) – an art centre in Winnipeg that provides an opportunity for inner-city youth-at-risk to work with contemporary visual artists.

Wanda Koop’s artwork is represented in several prestigious museum collections including the National Gallery of Canada. In 2010, the National Gallery of Canada and the Winnipeg Art Gallery co-curated a 25-year survey exhibition of Koop’s work. “On the Edge of Experience” featured an overwhelming body of work that explored the relationship between nature and technology.

Link to Wanda Koop’s Artist Page HERE