Earlier this year, Canadian contemporary artist Garry Neill Kennedy鈥檚 made a gift of his work to the AV俱乐部 Art Gallery, a donation that will capture the attention and imagination of visitors for generations to come.
His donation, comprised of two pieces鈥攁 group of four untitled paintings from 1975 and a series called 鈥淪ix Pink Paintings鈥� from 1994 (see image of聽Dermatitis below)鈥攔epresents the highest-value single donation the gallery has ever received.聽
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Mr. Kennedy, speaking about the gift, says the fact that he had no work in Dal鈥檚 permanent collection was something he wanted to address.
鈥淭he Dal permanent collection is quite good and I like my work to be in good company,鈥� he says. 鈥淢y gift is complementary to the works in the Dal collection of, say, Gerald Ferguson who, like me, comes from the minimalist conceptual tradition of the 60s.鈥�
Mr. Kennedy, who served as president of the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design for more than 20 years, was instrumental in bringing the conceptual art movement to Halifax. He is a member of the Order of Canada and was presented with a Governor General鈥檚 Award in Visual and Media Arts. His book, The Last Art College: Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, 1968-1978, was recently published by The MIT Press.
He also knows the art will be in good hands.
鈥淲hen making a gift I think about how secure the work will be. How well it will be taken care of over the long haul. My work, even the collectible work, is very fragile and would not survive the environmental conditions of most galleries or most homes. At the AV俱乐部 Art Gallery it鈥檚 a pretty safe bet that it will be around for a while.鈥�
Much to the delight of current and future art enthusiasts.
This article is part of the AV俱乐部 Difference series, exploring what the power of philantrophy means to the university and introducing and showcasing some of the 50 innovative projects in development. Learn more at .