What a gift. This superb painting of a family vacation home was given by Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris to his daughter Margaret “Peggie” Harris Knox. (circa 1918, 10 5/8 x 12 3/8 in. oil on board) Detail, Red House Barrie “Here, though more decorative in style than his later phases, he has captured a country home in the midsummer afternoon with the same perceptive eye that would later allow him to paint the essence of the remote Arctic, ” writes Alec Blair, Director/Lead Researcher, Lawren S. Harris Inventory Project (essay here) The same Red House in winter, gouache, 1924 via Mutual Ar ..read more

This phenomenal shot is an image from South African photographer Pieter Hugo’s famous series about West Africa’s Hyena Men. This digital chromogenic print, 60 x 60,” is on offer from a private collector at Heffel Vancouver here. Abdullahi Mohammed with Mainasara, Ogere-Remo, Nigeria, 2007 here The full series focused on itinerant men who haunt the peripheries of Nigeria’s cities. Accompanied by hyenas, rock pythons and baboons, they earn a living by performing before crowds and selling traditional medicines. Hugo’s extraordinary portraits of their liminal existence reveal an uncanny world.&nb ..read more

Jean Paul Lemieux (1904 – 1990) was a renowned Quebec painter, illustrator, art critic and teacher, one of Canada’s most significant artists. Le Decouvreur, 1976, oil on canvas, 74.7 x 206 cm, via Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, here. Lemieux is well recognized for his paintings of the desolate, seemingly infinite spaces of the landscapes of Quebec, the National Gallery of Canada notes. “Many of his works are permeated with an intense feeling of mystery.” Une maison à la campagne, 1973, oil on canvas via MNBAQ here The minimalist style of his monochromatic landscapes and portraits are uniquely Lem ..read more

Gregory Hardy celebrates the beauty of nature uniquely with his moody, wide open skies. WILD SKY, 2024, Acrylic on Linen, 36 x 48 in Hardy is a nationally-renowned landscape painter associated with the school of Western Canadian landscape painters focused on the Canadian prairies as well as Northern Saskatchewan, on the edge of the Canadian Shield.  DARK WATER LIKE MUSIC, 2023, Acrylic On Canvas, 60 x 72 in Hardy’s use of metallic pigments adds an ethereal quality to his paintings, capturing the dynamic and ever-changing essence of the Canadian landscape. YELLOW FIELD BY DUCK LA ..read more

Quebec artist Jacinthe Rivard took the DeSerres prize for painting at the 2024 Artist Project in Toronto, not a surprise given the popularity of her colorful contemporary work. She calls it nostalgic realism in oil. Empties, Oil on wood panel, 30×30″ Her muse is the light: “I love the way it reflects on a glass bottle, metal or even a plastic wrapper.” Big talk, 60×40″ Oil on wood panelWet ‘n Wild Miami Vice Jacinthe Rivard’s website, here. Instagram, here. The Artist Project, 2024, here ..read more

Photographer Arto Djerdjerian showcases an intimate view of everyday life at the Ya Ha Tinda Ranch, where horses are wintered and trained for use by Parks Canada staff in national mountain parks: Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, and Yoho. Djerdjerian spent six years photographing life at Canada’s only federally owned and operated working horse ranch. An exhibition of his work has been mounted at numerous venues across the West, the latest at the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies, here. His work provides a window into a special place that has rarely been photographed, revealing the gritty hard wor ..read more

Marjorie Beaucage is a Two-Spirit Métis Auntie, filmmaker, ‘art-ivist’ and educator, a land protector and a water walker. Watch the video produced to recognize her artistry as a winner of the 2024 Governor General’s Award in visual and media arts. For Beaucage, story is medicine. Her more than 40 films hold space for difference, giving voice to those often unheard in mainstream stories. Watch the Canada Council video on her work below (or here) Go to the Marjorie Beaucage page at the GG Visual Arts & Media Awards, here. Her recent book of poetry, leave some for the birds, docum ..read more

Ned Pratt is an award winning Newfoundland photographer with an innate understanding of the province’s beautiful but harsh landscape, which creates a foundation for his minimal, striking photographs. Red Shed Innovation, Pigment inkjet print on Kodak Professional Photo paper, 32 × 64,″ 2022 here Pratt’s playful use of perspective and vantage point transforms photographs of familiar landmarks into elegant abstractions. Bottom of the Loop, Pigment inkjet print on Kodak Professional Photo paper, 32 × 64″ 2022 here The son of celebrated Canadian painters Christopher Pratt and Mary ..read more

Based in New York and Montreal, Yves Tessier is an artist known for lyrical, humorous and vivid contemporary scenes. Tessier is one of nine artists represented by McBride Contemporain scheduled to show at the upcoming Plural Art Fair in Montreal (April 12 to 14). His latest solo exhibition, at Shrine, NY just ended (here) Girls on Campus, Casein on aluminum, 36 x 44 inches here Big Yellow Bus on Street Corner/ Casein on aluminum with burnished pewter, 37 x 52 inches, here. Boys and Girls on Campus, 2023, casein on wood panel, 18 x 18 in. here A natural born storyteller, Tessier uses casein p ..read more

Celebrated artist Rachel MacFarlane’s work is especially relevant today on the day of the solar eclipse. The Event, 2024. Oil on canvas via Smithsonian magazine, a feature on art inspired by eclipses One of the works for her new solo show in New York City is The Event (above), “a fantastical depiction of hurricane-battered Prince Edward Island coupled with an abstract depiction of a solar eclipse to imbue the landscape with a sense of foreboding,” says Smithsonian magazine in a feature on art inspired by eclipses. See the History of Art Inspired by Solar Eclipses, here. via Instagram, here. N ..read more