A Retrospective: Diana Roy’s Invisible Majority.

Collision Gallery, through close collaboration with the Roy Family Estate, Art Gate VR, and along with the generous patronage of Jennifer Bratty, is pleased to announce, A Retrospective: Diana Roy’s Invisible Majority. This unprecedented collection of Diana Roy artworks will be presented in virtual reality exhibition spaces curated by Candice Houekier and Brendon McNaughton. The exhibition is accessible to anyone, anywhere in the world, for free. It can be accessed through many popular virtual reality headsets.  

Roy (1940-2019) emerged in a unique set of cultural and historical circumstances. Born and raised in Manitoba, Canada, Roy was a free-thinker and an important figure in the Canadian art scene who remains largely unknown to the wider public. Roy established her practice in the industrial town of Windsor, ON. Her style and practice was diverse, but constant. Today, her extraordinary output is becoming appreciated, in its totality, as an essential contemporary on the joy and perils of self-reflection.

The retrospective of Roy’s work explores new interpretations of figuration and the philosophy of aesthetics. Of over 400 of her artworks catalogued, 50 works in acrylic and on paper from 6 different series within Roy’s artistic trajectory have been selected for this retrospective. She bridged her visceral need to create across techniques, but also in artistic approaches. This special exhibition marks an unprecedented scale of work to be exhibited in virtual reality. Art collectors and connoisseurs alike should not miss this historic moment to view such a large and avant-gardist body of work. 

Diana Roy lived and worked in Windsor all her life, where she had her modest studio. While her early works show a marked realist tendency, Roy’s style developed as Surrealism began to attract her more strongly. The transition defined her imagery as more ornamented, vivid, striking, complex and textured. From her first paintings to her final creations, Roy’s body of work transports us to a teeming, deep and tortured poetic visual universe, drawing boldly from the leading movements in modern art history to create her own vernacular universe. 

The opening reception for A Retrospective: Diana Roy’s Invisible Majority will take place in Collision Gallery within the Art Gate VR platform on September 5th, 2019 from 6-9pm EST. The exhibition will conclude on April 10th, 2020. To attend the exhibition a VR headset with Art Gate VR downloaded onto it is needed. For more information about how to attend exhibitions in VR please visit, www.artgatevr.com/explore . 

It is with distinct pleasure that Collision Gallery, Art Gate VR, The Roy Family Estate and Jennifer Bratty present,  A Retrospective: Diana Roy’s Invisible Majority.

Curators 

Brendon McNaughton

Brendon McNaughton is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist and the co-founder of Art Gate VR. He received a B.F.A. with honours from York University and began exhibiting his work in 2010. Since then his sculptures have been presented in major exhibitions at Toronto’s Corkin Gallery, OCAD’s Onsite Gallery and the Palazzo Loredan in Venice, Italy. McNaughton’s work has attracted widespread attention, his pieces forming part of both private and public collections.

McNaughton explores how technology is transforming social and economic structures across the globe. To create his marble, bronze and aluminum works, he uses frontier technologies such as 3D printers, carving robots, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence. McNaughton’s work marks a transitional moment in history away from the machine-like behaviour of people as conceived by Pop Art. His blending of art and technology aims to establish a cultural identity within the rapid technological evolutions in contemporary times.

Candice Houtekier

Candice Houtekier is the lead curator of A Retrospective: Diana Roy’s Invisible Majority presented in virtual reality. She has a Masters in Art History and a minor in Video Games studies from Université de Montréal. Houtekier has worked as a Digital Content Manager, before she founded Art Collision, a company that provides digital services for commercial art galleries. She is the founder of Collision Gallery which represents artists exclusively in virtual reality. Houtekier has explored the art through the lens of virtual reality and digital platforms for years and continues to be a leading thinker about the intersection of art and the digital age.