CANADIAN WEST COAST HERMETICS
The Metaphysical
Landscape
Gregg Simpson: The Adept
oil on canvas, 4' x 5', 1971
This exhibition, was conceived by Gregg Simpson, and organized with Alvin Balkind of the
University of British
Columbia's
Fine Arts Gallery. The theme of the
exhibition was the relationship of alchemy to surrealism, a project for which Simpson
receievd a Canada Council
grant in 1971, sponsored
by VAG Cheif Curator, Doris Shadbolt and former National Gallery
Director, Richard Simmins.
With a letter of introduction to the
Parisian Surrealists from William Rubin of the Museum
of
Modern Art, New York, Simpson went
to Paris and began ended up arranging what would become
the first exhibition of
avant garde art to tour Europe from
Canada's west coast.
It was first shown at U.B.C., January 9-27, 1973. The touring schedule
included installations at the Centre Culutrel
Canadien in Paris, March 15-April 14
with subsequent stops in St. Brieuc (Brittany); Canada House (London,
U.K.);
Palais des Beaux-Arts, Charleroi,
Belgium. It returend to
Canada in 1974 to be shown at McMaster University and the
University of Western Ontario.
david uu: Ruinick
mixed media 24" x 28", 1971
Gregg Simpson: The Pathos and Enigma of Goethe's Childhood
oil on canvas, 2.5' x 3.5', 1971
