New to the Esplanade Art & Heritage’s Gallery Foyer is “Athletic Aesthetics”! The exhibition "Athletic Aesthetics", curated from the Alberta Foundation for the Arts permanent collection, attempts to draw parallels between the pursuits of athletics and visual arts. Each of the 20 pieces depicts a moment relating to sport, play or practice. Some highlights include photographs by Don Mabie and Sylvian Voyer of the 1978 Commonwealth games in Edmonton; screen-printed golf lessons by Bill McCarroll; and an experimental video by Lindsay McIntyre of a youth playing an Inuit game. The term aesthetics is typically reserved for the nature and appreciation of beauty in regard to art. In this context, viewers are encouraged to move fluidly between the realms of arts and athletics, appreciating the elegance of the athlete as equal to the beauty of a brushstroke. Through the works, we recognize that there is emotion, passion, effort, humor, contemplation, concentration, evident in both artist and subject, and that the two worlds are more similar than at once thought. Ultimately, "Athletic Aesthetics" celebrates that we are a species who employs the earth as both canvas and playground, urging viewers to find pleasure in the joys of movement and activity and to delight in human ability, no matter what form it might take. "Athletic Aesthetics" is the first of many TREX exhibitions you’ll now be able to see at the Esplanade, TREX Southeast's new home! Visit the exhibition from April 19 to June 14, 2025.
