Abstract art has always been part of The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s story. The gallery was founded in 1967, and so too was the Permanent Collection, with an initial donation of 37 artworks from the personal collection of artist and beloved Oshawa resident Alexandra Luke. Of these, 21 were abstract works. This gift helped shape the RMG’s early focus on Painters Eleven and contemporary Canadian art, laying the groundwork for one of Canada’s most significant collections of abstraction.
This exhibition presents new acquisitions of contemporary abstraction to the Permanent Collection from the past five years. These acquisitions demonstrate the RMG’s continued commitment to telling the ongoing history of abstraction in Canada, and help broaden that history by embracing a wider range of voices and perspectives, demonstrating how abstraction is an evolving and dynamic genre of art.