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.
In our busy lives, it is easy to overlook the beauty of ordinary objects and the moments that shape our daily existence. A simple meal, chores, and familiar household objects are often dismissed as mundane and given little aesthetic value.
This exhibition explores how artists capture the beauty of daily life through depictions of common objects, places or tasks. Some of the selected works are examples of the art historical traditions of still life and genre painting. Still life painting focuses on inanimate objects, often using them symbolically to reflect themes of mortality, abundance, and the passage of time. Genre painting celebrates scenes of domestic life and labour, revealing the significance of ordinary human experience. Both artistic traditions use familiar scenes to explore deeper truths about life and society. Contemporary artists continue to draw on these traditions, using familiar subjects to reflect the complexities and nuances of everyday life.
Drawn from the Permanent Collection, the artworks in this exhibition invite viewers to reconsider what is worthy of notice, and to reflect on how everyday matters shape our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
In this exhibition, Lana Yuan shares new work inspired by her interest in the built environment and digital fabrication technologies. Oshawa is a suburban region well known for its industrial history, as well as its watershed landscape. The forests, swamps, and creeks flowing to Lake Ontario are as integral to the city’s social, cultural, and economic character as are the architectures dedicated to its manufacturing and energy sectors. Restructuring Echoes is the outcome of Yuan’s exploration of these natural and industrial features as an artist in residence. Using parametric design processes and 3D printers, Yuan transforms statistical data into seemingly abstract forms, exploring how sculptures can visualize municipal data related to population distribution and industrial land use in Oshawa.
As part of her engagement with Oshawa’s landscape, Yuan became interested in plant galls, which are produced by a variety of insects, parasites, fungi, and bacteria for nutrition and shelter. These organisms generate galls on branches and leaves by reforming external plant tissue. Yuan was inspired by this example of environmental intervention when she observed one on a tree in Lakeview Park, perceiving in this relationship between tree and insect a metaphor for Oshawa as an organic system. With this image of resource use and transformation in mind, she developed a method for processing municipal data through an algorithm, which could produce three-dimensional forms. Taking shape as plastic galls, the works become an echo of the data Yuan obtained from the City of Oshawa and a record of her momentary encounter with this place.
Artist Bio: Lana Yuan is a Critical Making and Makerspace Assistant at York University’s Markham Campus Library, and an artist working across sculpture, kinetic works, and interactive installation. Her recent interests focus on combining sculptural practice with digital technologies such as parametric modeling and 3D printing. Her work explores patterned behaviours within urban environments, with attention to how quiet intimacy, routine, and proximity shape human experience. She recently began incorporating digital fabrication processes to translate datasets and systems into material forms. Lana graduated from the University of Toronto and has exhibited at venues including the Art Museum at the University of Toronto, YYZ Artists’ Outlet, and Red Head Gallery. She is the recipient of the 2022–2023 401 Career Launcher Prize, and her work has been supported by the Toronto Arts Foundation and the Ontario Arts Council.
Join us for The Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s Annual General Meeting on Wednesday, June 17, from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Aaron Li Photography
This year’s AGM is an opportunity to gather as a community, celebrate the work of the RMG, and reflect on a meaningful year of exhibitions, programs, partnerships, and public impact. Guests are invited to enjoy refreshments, take part in a brief curatorial tour of Sukaina Kubba: Not Soft by Nature, hear staff presentations highlighting our work in 2025, and help us welcome new members to the RMG Board of Directors.
To celebrate the occasion, we are pleased to offer 20 free RMG individual memberships to the first 20 guests. These memberships may be used to renew your own membership or, for current members, gifted to someone else. RMG membership also includes participation in the Galleries Ontario / Ontario Association of Art Galleries reciprocal membership program, providing access to many public art galleries across Ontario at no cost.
Schedule
5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Refreshments in the Lobby
6:00 to 6:20 p.m. Curatorial Tour of Sukaina Kubba: Not Soft by Nature
6:40 to 7:15 p.m. Annual General Meeting and Staff Presentations in Arthur’s
Installation of Sukaina Kubba: Not Soft by Nature at The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, 2026. Photos by Toni Hafkenscheid.
We look forward to welcoming you, sharing our story, and celebrating the gallery’s continued role as a vibrant public art gallery for Oshawa and Durham Region.
We are pleased to present Farm and Wild, hosting Mother’s Day High Tea in Arthur’s this year.
Join us for a delightful weekend to celebrate the mothers and caretakers in our lives. Chef Daniel Bresca will present for you a curated selection of treats and beverages, in a beautiful setting waiting for you.
Whether you’re gathering with family or treating someone special, we invite you to relax, indulge, and make lasting memories together.
On the day of the event, ticketholders will receive 10% off a purchase in our gift shop on regular priced items. Not including books or member pricing, in store only.
This event is free and open to everyone. If there are ways we can support your participation, please contact Hannah at [email protected].
The Seniors Art Competition and Exhibition is co-hosted by The Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa Senior Community Centres, and the Oshawa Public Libraries. Seniors programming has been made possible thanks to the generous support of Sienna for Seniors Foundation.
Experience the magic of outdoor story time at the art gallery! Through books, songs, games, and creative activities, storytellers from Oshawa Public Libraries will spark your imagination in The Backyard at the RMG!
This event is free and no registration is required.
Backyard Story Time at the RMG is hosted by, and offered in partnership with, Oshawa Public Libraries.
Experience the magic of outdoor story time at the art gallery! Through books, songs, games, and creative activities, storytellers from Oshawa Public Libraries will spark your imagination in The Backyard at the RMG!
This event is free and no registration is required.
Backyard Story Time at the RMG is hosted by, and offered in partnership with, Oshawa Public Libraries.
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 up every day, as those in their professions have long done before them.
Drawn from the Thomas Bouckley Collection, this exhibition looks back at the first responders and health care workers who have served the Oshawa community across generations. Images of firefighters, nurses, doctors, ambulances, and more recent social services trace a history of care, protection, and public service in the city. While these photographs do not depict the everyday heroes of today, they remind us that the dedication and service of those who came before continue to shape and sustain our community.
