Rainbow Danceland, 1979, acrylic, glitter on canvas. Collection of Glenbow Museum, Calgary, Canada.David Thauberger
Canada's a nation of regions – a fact that includes its various art scenes. A painter who may be a big deal in, say, Toronto has negligible traction in Edmonton, and vice versa.
Occasionally, though, a so-called regionalist achieves a sort of true patriot love across our vast home and native land.
David Thauberger is one such artist. Sixty-six in June, the Saskatchewan-born, Regina-based painter, ceramicist and printmaker has been wowing fans for 30-plus years with his clear, colourful, precise, folk-meets-pop depictions of Prairie farmhouses, dance halls, curling rinks and gas stations.
He gets the big, national, retrospective treatment starting April 11 at Saskatoon's Mendel Art Gallery. It's the first stop in a five-city tour for Road Trips & Other Diversions, featuring works produced as far back as 1971, plus stuff Thauberger has collected and a 30-minute documentary.
Following the Saskatoon run, it travels to the Art Gallery of Windsor for a three-month showcase starting June 27.