Come celebrate the launch of Michael Audain’s latest book. Pictures on the Wall: Building a Canadian Art Collection is the story of Michael’s exceptional personal journey of building his pre-eminent collection of Canadian and international art. After a conversation between Michael and Polygon Gallery Director Reid Shier, join us for a reception and book signing.
Doors at 6pm
Talk at 6:30pm
Book signing at 7:15pm
About Pictures on Wall: Building a Canadian Art Collection
Michael Audain’s passion for art began when he was a teenager, taping reproductions of Bruegel paintings to his dorm room walls. Over the years, his eye for art developed and together with wife Yoshiko (Yoshi) Karasawa, he acquired one of Canada’s most notable collections. In Pictures on the Wall, Audain tells the story of the first tentative purchases to ultimately donating much of the collection to Whistler’s stunning Audain Art Museum.
With heart, humour and candour, Audain looks at seventy-five significant works that transformed both his collection and his relationship with art: the Indigenous art pieces that enthralled him from an early age, the Emily Carr paintings that inspired his lifelong connection to the artist, the works of Mexican modernists sought out after his early love of their murals, the paintings of Jean Paul Riopelle that opened his mind to the power of non-figurative art, and many more.
Accompanying each beautifully reproduced image is a description of the work and how it came to find a place in Audain’s collection. Throughout, Audain’s personal and practical narrative aims to light the way for anyone hoping to begin their own art collection, and to inspire everyone to explore and enjoy their own relationship with art.
About Michael Audain
Michael Audain is the founder and chairman of Polygon Homes Ltd., an officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of British Columbia. In his personal memoir, One Man in His Time… (2021), Audain expands on his activism, business leadership, philanthropy and dedicated support for wildlife causes and the visual arts. He lives with his wife, Yoshiko Karasawa, in Vancouver, BC.