Alex Janvier
Lubicon, 1988
Acrylic on canvas
Art Gallery of Alberta Collection
The Art Gallery of Alberta's retrospective of Alex Janvier’s work features more than 90 pieces – including many paintings and drawings from private and public collections across Canada. The exhibition traces the development of Janvier’s signature curvilinear style through the past five decades, concluding with a selection of Janvier’s most recent work.
Works produced in the ‘80s and early ‘90s incorporate pictorial and figurative elements that speak to the ongoing struggle for Aboriginal nationhood. The exhibition concludes with the latest in a series of canvases created in homage to the members of the Aboriginal Group of Seven.
While Janvier recognizes Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee as significant influences, he proudly credits the beadwork and birch bark basketry of his relatives assignificant influences.
After receiving the Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts in 2008, Janvier was named one of Alberta's Most Influential People by Alberta Venture Magazine in 2009. Last year, he received lifetime achievement awards from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Tribal Chiefs Institute and Cold Lake First Nations. Janvier graduated from ACAD in 1960.