Acclaimed artist’s work hits downtown

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/05/2012 (5247 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A major work by “the greatest living Canadian artist” is now on permanent display at Portage Avenue and Main Street — a sculpture almost four metres high depicting a man and his devoted dog.

The work North Watch by Winnipeg’s Ivan Eyre was unveiled earlier this week in front of the Richardson Building, sponsored by the Richardson Family.

“Ivan’s always been considered a very significant artist — he’s in every museum and gallery in the country,” said gallery owner David Loch. “He’s the greatest living Canadian artist.”

Loch said it is especially important the sculpture be placed at Portage and Main, where so many people can appreciate it. “It takes courage for the Richardson family to do that,” he said.

“There’s no more recognizable spot in Winnipeg than Portage and Main,” said Loch, pointing out the intersection already boasts works by Leo Mol and Peter Sawatzky.

“We don’t celebrate things here to the extent we should. This man works here, lives here,” said Loch, who worked with Hartley Richardson to establish the Ivan Eyre Gallery in the Assiniboine Park Pavilion in the 1980s.

Last year Eyre donated nine monumental sculptures to the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ont.

Eyre, a University of Manitoba graduate, is a retired professor of art at the university.