Exhibitions

Joi T. Arcand, ekawiya nepewisi (don’t be shy), 2017, neon channel sign. Photograph by Toni Hafkenscheid

The RMG annually programs over twenty exhibitions across six gallery spaces. With a focus on modern and contemporary Canadian art, we present a variety of exhibitions that reflect a diverse range of artistic output, including painting, photography, sculpture, film, installation and performance. Reflecting our commitment to connect our communities through art, we strive to produce innovative and timely exhibitions that recognize our collective responsibility to contend with the past and vision a more equitable, just, and expansive future.  

View a selection of online exhibition catalogues here.

Answering the Call: First Responders in Historic Oshawa

June 13, 2026 - January 3, 2027

Permanent Collection

Curator: Sonya Jones

In 2020, at the height of the global pandemic, communities came together to show support for first responders and health care workers. Painted rocks, handmade signs in windows, and messages posted on fences became visible expressions of gratitude and solidarity for those working on the front lines. Even without fanfare, frontline workers continue to show […]

Stories in Ink: Illustrations by Oscar Cahén

June 13, 2026 - January 3, 2027

Permanent Collection

Curator: Sonya Jones

Artists: Oscar Cahén

Stories in Ink: Illustrations by Oscar Cahén Before joining the abstract artist collective Painters Eleven in 1953, Oscar Cahén had built a successful career as a publishing illustrator. Between 1950 and 1957, he produced more than three hundred illustrations for Canadian magazines while also gaining recognition for his abstract expressionist paintings. This exhibition presents rarely […]

Stephen Andrews: The sum of the parts

June 6, 2026 - November 1, 2026

Special Exhibition

Curator: Leila Timmins + Hannah Keating

Artists: Stephen Andrews

The sum of the parts brings together a constellation of works by Stephen Andrews that examine how systems of war, resource extraction, and global capital are permitted through complacency and constructed through incremental, often hidden acts. At the centre of the exhibition is The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s recent acquisition of Cartoon (2007), a landmark work […]

Oliver Husain: I ♥ Snail

June 6, 2026 - November 1, 2026

Special Exhibition

Curator: Leila Timmins

Artists: Oliver Husain

I ♥ Snail is an immersive video installation by Oliver Husain that examines IMAX cinema as both an experimental film format emerging in the 1960s and a technology later mobilized as a tool of nation-building. The exhibition title is drawn from a sticker found in the archived papers of Toronto-based filmmaker Graeme Ferguson, one of […]

Austin Henderson: Talking to Papou

June 13, 2026 - August 9, 2026

Artist Residency

Curator: Hannah Keating

Artists: Austin Henderson

Talking to Papou is an exhibition of paintings, lithographs, and multimedia works by Austin Henderson inspired by his Greek Canadian grandfather, or “papou.” An avid traveller, gardener, volunteer, and lifetime resident of Oshawa, Henderson’s grandfather passed away in 1988 from AIDS-related complications, nearly a decade before Henderson was born. Over the years, it was difficult […]

Painters Eleven: Radical Colour

March 7, 2026 - August 23, 2026

Permanent Collection

Curator: Sonya Jones

Artists: Alexandra Luke, Tom Hodgson, Kazuo Nakamura, Harold Town, Jack Bush, Oscar Cahen, Hortense Gordon, Ray Mead, William Ronald, Jock Macdonald, Walter Yarwood

Painters Eleven was the first abstract artist collective in Ontario. The Toronto group was founded in 1953 at the cottage of artist Alexandra Luke on the Oshawa–Whitby border. In the early 1950s, Toronto’s art scene was criticized for being conservative and unexciting. Painters Eleven was determined to shake things up and elevate abstraction within mainstream […]

Sukaina Kubba: Not Soft by Nature

April 11, 2026 - September 6, 2026

Special Exhibition

Curator: Leila Timmins

Artists: Sukaina Kubba

Not Soft by Nature marks the first museum solo show in Canada by artist Sukaina Kubba. Building on previous research on the cultural production of textiles, the exhibition presents an expansive installation based on the history of lacemaking and its global trade. Oscillating between research and free-association, Kubba weaves together motifs, figures, flora and fauna from rugs and […]

Homage

September 6, 2025 - August 23, 2026

Permanent Collection

Curator: Sonya Jones

Paying homage is more than an act of reverence—it is a gesture rooted in respect and a way to acknowledge influence and inspiration. Artists often engage with the past to make sense of the present: responding to those who shaped them, the histories they’ve inherited, and the cultural forces that continue to shape our world. […]

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