National Gallery shows off pieces by Ai Weiwei, Alex Janvier and more – Artsfile

The painting High Hopes of a Liberal was created by Alex Janvier in 1974 as a comment on the failure of federal policies on indigenous issues, but given the state of scandal in 2019’s Parliament, it’s seems dryly appropriate that the painting is on display again at the National Gallery.

The Janvier canvas is in one of two rooms that mark several notable acquisitions, and one notable departure. The thread that binds the rooms is Jonathan Shaughnessy, who curated both to different ends.

Each room is its own small exhibition. Neither has a title, but one is all recent international acquisitions (plus two indigenous Canadian artists), centred, literally, around an installation by global art/activist superstar Ai Weiwei. The other room is a small sampling of pieces that were acquired by the recently departed Marc Mayer during his decade as gallery director.

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