Remai Modern announces major exhibition for 2018
- EFN Staff | January 04, 2017
The Remai Modern, a new museum in Saskatoon that features a mix of modern and contemporary art, announced a major exhibition called Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World, that will be coming out in early 2018. Gregory Burke, Executive Director and CEO of Remai Modern, says he is excited to feature the Cherokee artist.
“Jimmie Durham, is an artist that I greatly admired…he’s been very important and influential artist working within the last forty-years,” he says. “His work is universal…he’s very much involved with issues within the Indigenous populations of North America. I’m really happy that we were able to bring this to Saskatoon.”
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Burke said to create a show displaying Jimmie Durham’s work, which will consist of 3-dimensional art, is quite an extraordinary opportunity. The artist creates his art pieces out of many materials but he often works with stone and wood. Some of his artwork consists of some painting, 2-dimensional work and making films. Burke says that Jimmie Durham being quite elderly limits his travel, which has halted the artist from displaying his artwork within the last 20-years.
“His work, particularly in the United States, hasn’t been shown very much. He is important in terms of the Indigenous context, but he’s in my view, he is an incredible and important artist, period.”
The Remai Moden museum is the only Canadian venue and the Jimmie Durham exhibition is expected to be a very big show. It requires about 10,000 square feet of space and it will be twice the size as the Mendel Art Gallery, which is also located in Saskatoon.
“I’m getting comments from people all over the place. People are impressed with what we’re doing with this exhibition,” he adds.
Burke grew up in New Zealand, which he describes as being a strong bicultural country including the Indigenous Māori people. This experience drove his ambition to make Remai Modern a leading centre in North America in contemporary Indigenous programming.
“I have a personal dedication and commitment to Remai Modern that centerfolds contemporary Indigenous art.”
Burke and the Remai Modern museum staff are focused on developing a First Nations strategy on how to continue engaging with the local Indigenous community—which will be a working progress.
“We will be looking at how to further that goal. In terms of programming for the Remai Model, our focus is to have a very visible Indigenous program in the gallery.”
The Jimmie Durham: At the Center of the World exhibition will be available for view at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles from January 29 – May 7, 2017 and will be at the Remai Modern museum on March 23 – August 5, 2018.