WONDER: the real surreal and the fantastic

Art Gallery of Hamilton, curated by Tobi Bruce

September 3rd, 2023 - January 7th 2024

Featuring artista 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.

“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.”

Exhibition text courtesy of the Art Gallery of Hamilton.