Two centuries ago, romantic art reacted to the sweeping changes brought on by science, new technologies and industrialization, questioning our ability to harness and control our environment. Showcasing recent work by Canadian artists Philippa Jones, Anthony Redpath and Kelly Richardson, New Romantics presents photography, immersive video and interactive digital installations that again explore our ever-changing relationship between our natural and man-made worlds.

Image: Trailer Park Party (2009), Anthony Redpath, 64.5 x 96 inches, Lightjet chromogenic print

The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery presents four works by Tom Thomson (1877-1917), on loan from the Tom Thomson Art Gallery (Owen Sound, Ontario). Thomson’s paintings influenced the Group of Seven and the exploration of Canadian identity through the ruggedness of the landscape in a distinctive painting style. His untimely death in 1917 generated many stories, sometimes factual other times not, that culminated in a legendary mystery. Although we do have access to his works, some letters and factual information, to this day, Tom Thomson remains mostly elusive to historians.

Works presented:
Soft Maple in Autumn, 1914
Near Lake Scugog, 1911
Northland Sunset, 1912-1913
Woods in Winter, 1917

Image: Woods in Winter, 1917, oil on board, 13 x 18 cm. Gift of Louise (Thomson) Henry, sister of Tom Thomson, 1967. Collection of the Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, ON

Since 1952, Newfoundland and Labrador has celebrated excellence in the arts though the Arts and Letters Awards. This annual competition affords a special opportunity for writers, composers and visual artists – young and old, amateur and professional – to showcase their talents through a variety of media. The Rooms is pleased to present work by the winners alongside those designated honourable mentions or works of merit by the adjudicators.

Michael Pittman plots the airy geography between worlds of sleep and wakefulness, experience and intuition, the rational and the mad. Linking terrains of varying substance, Pittman’s paintings and sculpture are shifting maps, marking territory as illusive as a childhood memory or an irrational fear. They ply the recognizable with the uncanny.

Michael Pittman was born in western Newfoundland and currently lives in Grand Falls.

Haunted Half is the culmination of five years studio work.

Michael Pittman, Floodplain (Dogs Fighting) 2012. Mixed media on panel 125cm x 81cm

John McDonald: You Don’t Know Cold presents a new body of paintings that portrays the story of artist John McDonald’s relatives, James and Stephen Donovan. The brothers were a small, but poignant part of The Great Sealing Disaster of 1914.

McDonald is part of The Room’s Elbow Room Residency Series, which provides professional studio space and support for emerging artists from St. John’s to expand their practice, and create a new body of work. The residency culminates in a solo exhibition and publication.

Inner Works presents significant artworks from The Rooms’ permanent collection, works that are elemental to the continuing stories of our collections and the visual arts in this province. This exhibition is enriched with information about artists, art contexts and techniques available through hands-on activities and new technologies.