ROYAL ART LODGE - Grupo de artistas contemporáneos de Canadá

(Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, Neil Farber)

(Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, Neil Farber)

(Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, Neil Farber)

(Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, Neil Farber)

The Royal Art Lodge is a collaborative group of artists based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, that was founded in 1996 by Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, Neil Farber, Drue Langlois, Jonathan Pylypchuk, and Adrian Williams. Hollie Dzama and Myles Langlois also worked with the group. Currently, only three of the original members remain, including Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, and Neil Farber.1 The majority of the work produced by The Royal Art Lodge are small-scale drawings and paintings which often incorporate text. The group met for several years once a week to do many drawings each evening. Generally, at least three of the members contribute to each piece of work in a spontaneous response to the previous artist's work on the page before stamp-dating the work. After a piece is deemed complete, the group then sorts it along with other work made at the drawing session into "good", "OK", and "bad" piles, and most of the work produced is never shown in a gallery. The date stamp functions both as a practical means of identifying when the art was made, but also as a unifying feature of the work that indicates the regular meeting process. The process of working relatively quickly on multiple pieces each night means that many of the works retain a simple or naïve quality to them that emphasizes the immediacy of the drawing and painting.