Noel Harding: Gaugin and BJ

January 20 to February 27, 2005

Internationally recognized artist Noel Harding began his career in Guelph in the 1970s creating innovative video and theatrical installations, one of which involved a baby elephant.  This exhibition presented a selection of major sculptures and photographic works from the Art Centre’s collection.  Harding was a founding member of Guelph’s Ed Video Media Arts Centre and has exhibited nationally and internationally to critical acclaim since 1974.  In 1982, he was the youngest artist to be honoured with a major retrospective at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Throughout the 1990s, Harding produced large-scale sculptures and photo installations in which he explored elaborate and complex environments.  The works in this exhibition exemplified his practice during this period: Gaugin (1992), an enormous crimson flower in a steel vase (purchased in 1995); and BJ (1990), two giant men’s jackets made of corrugated cardboard (donated by Cynthia Cooper). The exhibition also includeed four of Harding’s mural-sized silverprint photographs, three of which were generous donations from Cooper, Ron and Helen Barnes, and Brian and Heather Ayer. 

Noel Harding: Gaugin and BJ opened on Thursday, January 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Images:  
Above: BJ, 1990 (Gift of Cynthia Cooper 2000, MSAC Collection)
At left: Gaugin, 1992 (Art Centre purchase 1995, MSAC Collection)

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Last modified: March 12, 2007