Attila Richard Lukacs | Fiona Ackerman

Upcoming Exhibitions at Herringer Kiss Gallery

Attila Richard Lukacs, SEPTEMBER – Morning Light on Bird Bath, Oil on canvas mounted on board, 34″ x 34″, 2021

Attila Richard Lukacs
In Helen’s Garden

May 27 – July 1, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 27th from 2 to 5 pm.

Although Attila Richard Lukacs vaulted onto the international stage in the 1980’s with epic, grand paintings, he has created masterful small-scale works throughout his career, often with family and friends in mind. This exhibition is a rare event. During the summer of 2021 he came to Calgary to help his family care for his mother, Helen, as her dementia progressed. He renewed her beloved garden with brightly blooming flowers she might see throughout the season from her window. There, he set up an outdoor studio space and painted this suite of eight extraordinary, intimate diamonds – musings on life, spirit, and transcendence – in the company of sparrows, nuthatches and chickadees. – Katherine Ylitalo, 2023

Fiona Ackerman, Automatic Yes, Acrylic & Spray Paint on Canvas, 53″ x 47″, 2023

Fiona Ackerman
Automatic Yes

May 27 – July 1, 2023
Opening Reception: Saturday, May 27th from 2 to 5 pm.
Artist in Attendance.

Rooted in abstraction, Fiona Ackerman pushes her work in new directions to surprise herself and keep the limits of her painting wide open. Working in series, Fiona develops a language specific to the mood or conceptual objectives she’s working on. Over the years, her work has seen many different stylistic evolutions. Fiona sees this arc of her work much like that of an author. Each series is like a new book, different in tone, style and story. But they are all part of a larger archive, and each a meaningful piece of the whole.

“I’m often asked what kind of painter I am. Figurative, abstract, small, large, digital, botanical, surrealist, mural… I just say yes to all of it. When I began working on this show, I felt the now familiar hunger for a new experience of painting, for the excitement and surprise of a fresh direction. I smiled when the first painting I finished said ‘Automatic Yes’ in large letters. So, I took it from there, playfully, not recklessly, intentionally being open to whatever kind of painter I might be. I followed the chain of ideas, reacting with an automatic yes at every turn.” – Fiona Ackerman, 2023