"The light in Pratt's paintings seems sentient, a living thing, a pulsation or emission, imbuing the paintings with an erotic and almost mystical desire." — Canadian Art

Following a stunningly successful national touring exhibition and a sold-out hardcover edition of the accompanying book, Mary Pratt is available once again in this elegant paperback edition.

Says the Globe and Mail, Mary Pratt's "gorgeous, brutal vision of the world is the best revenge against anyone who ever sought to define her."

There's something deeply resonant about Pratt's painting for contemporary audiences — particularly for those that are food obsessed. The dark light of a jelly jar, the slippery weight of filleted cod, the dark drippings of a bloody roast, the wet yellow yolk of a cracked egg. Pratt takes these seemingly mundane subjects and fills them with light, giving them a monumental quality, making them seem luminous, signifiant, memorable. For many, they have become seared into memory, iconic in the best sense of the word.

Mary Pratt, a career retrospective, features five major essays by columnist and art critic Sarah Milroy, Catharine Mastin of the Art Gallery of Windsor, Mireille Eagan and Caroline Stone of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, Sarah Fillmore of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and art critic and curator Ray Cronin as well as 75 colour reproductions of Pratt's most renowned work, including Eggs in an Egg Crate, Salmon on Saran, Eviscerated Chickens, and Cod Fillets on Tin Foil.

Mireille Eagan is Curator of Canadian Art at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery, St. John's, a position she has held since January 2010. Prior to this, she was Curator at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Eagan has lectured nationally on Canadian art and has published several catalogues and essays on Canadian artists. She has a special interest in promoting the activities of artists based in the Atlantic provinces.

Mireille Eagan's profile page

Sarah Milroy is a Toronto writer and art critic. She served as editor and publisher of Canadian Art magazine (1991-96) and as art critic of the Globe and Mail (2001-10). Milroy has contributed to publications on the work of Gathie Falk, Jack Chambers, Greg Curnoe and Fred Herzog, and is a regular contributor to Canadian Art, Border Crossings and The Walrus.

Sarah Milroy's profile page