EDMONTON.- The Art Gallery of Alberta presents CHRIS CRAN, Sincerely Yours, from September 12, 2015 through January 3, 2016. Organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and the National Gallery of Canada as part of the NGC@AGA exhibition series, it features the work of Chris Cran, one of the most influential Alberta artists working today, and one of Canada’s preeminent painters of the last few decades. CHRIS CRAN, Sincerely Yours is the most comprehensive examination of Cran’s practice mounted to date and includes over 100 works surveying his artistic production over the last 30 years.

Chris Cran is known for his experimentation with traditional genres of painting, bringing his own unique perspective to still-life, portraiture, landscape and abstraction. His work challenges the traditional medium of painting to explore and question other forms of representation, including photography and printed media.

Working within the familiar terrain of well-known artistic movements and styles such as Pop Art, Photorealism, Op Art and abstraction, Cran challenges the viewer’s understanding and experience of them by playfully combining tradition with borrowed scenes from popular culture, including images from cartoons, advertising, magazine illustrations and newspapers. His recent work is a culmination of the tropes and techniques he has developed over his thirty year career, and at this stage in his practice, his work still defies expectations, while exploring perception and challenging our understanding of painting.

An award-winning and celebrated artist, Cran’s work can be found in major public and private collections in Canada and internationally.

Catherine Crowston (AGA Executive Director / Chief Curator) and Josée Drouin-Brisebois (Senior Curator of Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Canada) are the curators of CHRIS CRAN, Sincerely Yours, which is organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta and the National Gallery of Canada as part of the NGC@AGA exhibition series. The exhibition will be on view at the National Gallery of Canada as of May 12, 2016 throughout the summer and will include additional works drawn from the Southern Alberta Art Gallery’s exhibition Inherent Virtue, on view from September 25 to November 22, 2015 in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Chris Cran
Chris Cran is a senior Canadian artist who currently lives and works in Calgary, Alberta. He studied at the Kootenay School of Art in Nelson, B.C., and graduated from the Alberta College of Art + Design in 1979. Cran has influenced and mentored a generation of artists studying at the Alberta College of Art + Design, where he still teaches. - See more at: http://www.youraga.ca/media-room/24546/#sthash.KeM7Oqlu.dpuf