The first time Heffel has partnered with a commercial gallery in the National Capital of Canada.
| Exhibition dates: May 19 – June 29, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 23, 6-9 pm |
Studio Sixty Six – Major News. We are pleased to announce (re)mix, an exhibition of work by Barry Ace in partnership with Heffel Galleries.
We are thrilled to partner with Heffel, Canada’s leading fine art auction house and gallery, to present a curated selection of artwork by Barry Ace, one of Canada’s most celebrated Indigenous contemporary artists living today.
This is the first time Heffel has partnered with a commercial gallery in the National Capital of Canada.
This exhibition features a curated selection of artwork from Heffel, the Super Phat Nish series from Ace’s private collection, and a first-to-market limited edition screenprint available exclusively through Studio Sixty Six Contemporary.
“I believe promoting Canadian art to new audiences means offering new experiences. Partnering with Heffel to present Barry Ace, one of Canada’s most important living artists, is a natural evolution of creating stronger cultural exchanges from coast to coast.” - Brendan A. de Montigny, Owner and Director of Studio Sixty Six Contemporary.
ABOUT THE ARTIST AND EXHIBITION
Barry Ace is a practicing visual artist and currently lives in Ottawa. He is a debendaagzijig (citizen) of M’Chigeeng First Nation, Odawa Mnis (Manitoulin Island), Ontario, Canada. Ace’s work embraces the impact of the digital age and how it exponentially transforms and infuses Anishinaabeg culture (and other global cultures) with new technologies and new ways of communicating. His work attempts to harness and bridge the precipice between historical and contemporary knowledge, art, and power, while maintaining a distinct Anishinaabeg aesthetic connecting generations.
Barry Ace has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions and has been placed in important public and private collections in Canada and abroad, including the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, Ontario); Canadian Museum of History (Gatineau, Québec); Art Gallery of Ontario (Toronto, Ontario); North American Native Museum (Zurich, Switzerland); Global Affairs Canada (Ottawa, Ontario); TD Bank Art Collection (Toronto, Ontario); Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada (Gatineau, Québec); Canada Council Art Bank (Ottawa, Ontario); and McMichael Canadian Art Collection (Kleinburg, Ontario).
In addition to artwork provided by Heffel, the exhibition will show Ace’s early work Super Phat Nish series. This body of work addresses the urban Indigenous experience, through the creation of a popular culture icon.
Based on the Anishinaabe mythological trickster Nanabozho, SPN is a self-reflexive personification constantly transforming to engage, critique, and indiginize normative settler imagery. The shape-shifting SPN can be perceived as humorous and ironic, yet simultaneously, there is a subversive subtext that levels cultural critique against dominant narratives. SPN reclaims stereotypical representations to challenge negative racial portrayals through a repositioning that coalesces with contemporary Indigenous urbanity. ‘Super Phat’ (cool and hip) combines with ‘Nish’ (cajoling street-smart term for Anishinaabe) to reference belonging and tribalism.
“The otter, Ace’s doodem (clan) was an important messenger for the Anishinaabeg. Similarly, miigis, little sea shells called cowry, a cousin of esiins (freshwater clam, which was historically spelled as Assance and Ace, Barry’s surname), play an important role in mnemonically recalling Anishinaabe history and cultural teachings, thus by virtue of his doodem (clan) and his surname, Barry is perhaps predisposed to encode these teachings in new media for this generation.” - Dr. Alan Corbiere (M’Chigeeng First Nation)*.
Ace is featured in the touring exhibition from the MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Radical Stitch, curated by Sherry Farrell Racette, Michelle LaVallee, and Cathy Mattes. Radical Stitch opens at the National Gallery of Canada on Friday, May 17, 2024.
ABOUT HEFFEL
Since 1978, Heffel has connected passionate collectors across the world with outstanding works of art, with sales totaling three-quarters of a billion dollars. With facilities in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Ottawa, and Calgary, Heffel has the most experienced team of fine art specialists in Canada and provides premium client service to both sellers and buyers internationally.
* Dr. Alan Ojiig Corbiere, Bne doodem (Ruffed Grouse clan), is an Anishinaabe from M'Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. He was educated on the reserve and then attended the University of Toronto for a Bachelor of Science, he then entered York University and earned his Master's of Environmental Studies.
