Art Gallery of Alberta

I should probably wait to write more posts until this site is indexed by Google.

But I'm not gonna.

The Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA, or, if you like, a-GAH) opened on January 31, 2010, after much pomp, hatred, circumstance, criticism, ado, and vitriol spilling out of the local press. It's a waste of money. It's an eyesore. It's an affront to the uneducated and people who live in the suburbs. Maybe it's all of those things. I don't care. The AGA is the only world class thing in Edmonton. I don't use the word thing because I can't think of a better word; my intention is to be that general. West Edmonton Mall is not world class. The Edmonton Oilers are not world class. No food or manufacturing or people are world class. Nothing here is world class. Except for the AGA.


I am well aware that this structure was designed by a second rate Frank Gehry (Randall Stout Architects, Inc., whose website is bejesus terrible) and looks like Guggenheim Bilbao Jr. It's still beautiful. Maybe not objectively beautiful; maybe it is an eyesore to some people. I'm not interested in meeting those people. But the outside is only a small part of why I think this building is a truly great achievement for the city of Edmonton.

Whoever planned the opening exhibitions chose to skip predictably lame local art. No dreamcatchers or pretentious photos of homeless people clogging up the floorspace. It's a world class building, so it has opened with world class artists. Goya, though not my taste, is very well known, and I really think his self-portrait is truly excellent, though not in the AGA collection. The sculptures by Degas are not only exquisite, but also moving on an emotional level: his dancers call to mind every beautiful woman I have ever known, which is totally inappropriate in public but I'm accustomed to public embarrassment. Simultaneously they are without identity yet obsessively specific; I could spend all day in this exhibit. What's more, Degas is mostly known for his paintings, which means that the planners at the AGA think they are big-shit enough to show something more obscure, more indie, than typical art galleries. Slick and entirely unCanadian. Great.

Upstairs, the Yousuf Karsh photo gallery is one of those exhibits where you walk in and immediately see recognizable images, exclaiming, "holy shit, that was this guy?" An interrobang would have been useful there. Martin Luther King Jr. Marshall McLuhan. That guy who was played by Morgan Freeman in Invictus. All kinds of famous dudes and dudettes, including the greatest photo of Rene Levesque ever taken. And Karsh is Canadian. Instead of just settling for whichever local hack they could get, they sought out a credible, dare I say, world class Canadian artist to include. They did the same thing with the Edward Burtynsky photos in the lobby. The creator of Manufactured Landscapes and perhaps the most well-known actively shooting photographer in Canada, was on hand during construction to shoot the gallery at various stages of completion. And he produced some unbelievable images. If you don't want to pay to get in, just go wander around in the lobby and have a look. You'll be arrested for attempted theft - I almost guarantee it.

I'll admit, I went to the gallery after work so I only made it through the first one and a half floors before it closed for the night. But the promise of the remaining two and half floors made me march down to the front desk at 6:45 and trade in my adult day pass ($12) for a family pass for my sweetie pie and I ($89.25). Basically, if you go four times in a year, you save money. And I'll to go at least twice just to see it all once.

Don't believe the bad press. Don't believe your Coors Light swilling neighbour. Don't skip this. If you live in St. Albert and think downtown is dangerous, shut up and go to the AGA. If you live in Millwoods and think downtown is too far, shut up and go to the AGA. If you think Edmonton is a world class city, shut up and go the AGA - you just might be right.