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Rath brings new works to the art gallery

Art-goers will see a little bit of everything that Perry Rath has to offer with his new show, In All Directions, currently on display at the Smithers Art Gallery.

Art-goers will see a little bit of everything that Perry Rath has to offer with his new show, In All Directions, currently on display at the Smithers Art Gallery.

The show runs to Oct. 22.

On display will be a collection that has seen the light internationally but not yet in the valley.

Yet it’s not just within the art gallery you’ll see his work.

With this exhibit, Rath is incorporating ‘public interventions’.

People on Main Street will have a chance to see what that means. For one, he’ll be placing soul cakes, small pastry items, in some areas, which are, he said, an offering to some anonymous entity or creature.

Messages written in ash will also be a part of the intervention.

The art will be there for people to notice or, perhaps, overlook.

While some other artists who do interventions might be more bold in their approach, Rath works differently.

“Mine are more quiet, hidden. You ... really have to come upon them to see them,” he said.

Of course the more traditional pieces can be seen at the gallery and include acrylic paintings with photographs incorporated, and installations.

He also has a series of styrofoam prints where he sent images out to other artists and had it sent back, a sort of telephone game for art.

“That’s been displayed in a number of different venues around B.C.,” he said.

That collaborative style of art has been something he has been pursuing in the past few years.

“I’ve really enjoyed working together with people to create artwork that becomes greater than the sum of its parts,” he said.

Rath also lends his creative talents to the high school where he is an art teacher.