A commercial art gallery that took an inclusive curated approach to exhibiting contemporary culture.
A commercial art gallery that took an inclusive curated approach to exhibiting contemporary culture. Located in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, I founded and ran the gallery from 2014 until 2018. PDA had over 25 exhibitions and was located first in the Golden Triangle on Elgin Street and then in the Glebe on Bank Street.
The gallery’s name was purposeful and chosen with collaboration in mind. After all, PDA stands for public displays of affection, an action that takes more than one person. Our affection was for promoting contemporary art.
PDA Projects quickly became a space for collectors, artists, curators, activists and enthusiasts to co-mingle at openings that would typically have up to 250 guests.
Always iconoclastic, PDA worked to be weird.
From a realistic life-size zebra, a lit-up orifice you could walkthrough, a Miyazaki-inspired cloud city made out of cigarette butts, delicate ceramics, and award-winning paintings. Group exhibitions would feature emerging artists from across Canada side by side in the capital.
PDA was a space that celebrated painting, drawing, print, installations, experimental media art, performance, photography and sculpture.
Represented Artists
Dayna Danger
Anne Marie Dumouchel
Colin Muir Dorward
EN MASSE
Alysha Farling
Adam Gunn
Gillian King
Aydin Matlabi
Christopher Payne
Zoltan Veevate
Rah
Vincent Tiley
Selected Artists Exhibited
Alaska B
Mariane Bourcheix-Laport
Maxime Boisvert-Huneault
Natasha Botello
Stella Cade
Wallis Cheung
Anna J. Eyle & Nicolas Lapointe
James Gardner
Petra Glynt
Philippe Caron-Lefebvre
Rachel Kalpana James
Darcy Kennedy
Lilly Koltun
Aymara Alvarado Lang
Emily Jan
Olivia Johnston
Hugo Gaudet-Dion
Lauren Pelc-McArthur
Julia Martin
Jessica Mensch
Stephanie Nadeau
Emily Pelstring
Tyler K. Rauman
Massimo Guerra
Didier Morelli
Drew Mosley
Melanie Rose Peterson
Sarah Sands-Philipps
Anthony Sauvé
Simon Schlesinger
Stéphanie St-Jean Aubre
Jesse Stewart
Rémi Thériault
Cara Tierney
Corie-Lynn Tetz
Guillermo Trejo
