Royal Art Lodge

Active from 1996 to 2008, the Royal Art Lodge brought a signature whimsy to Canadian image-making through their small scale drawings and paintings, often punctuated by clever wordplay. These illustration-styled surrealistic depictions of human-animal hybrids, naughty children, and absurdist violence were created by a group of then art students from the University of Manitoba, with each member contributing to every piece. The RAL included Michael Dumontier, Marcel Dzama, Neil Farber, Drue Langlois, Jonathan Pylypchuk, and Adrian Williams, with occasional participation from Hollie Dzama and Myles Langlois. Parallel to and since their work together, members of the Lodge developed independent careers, Dumontier, Dzama, and Farber to international success. As a group, the Royal Art Lodge has exhibited widely with their 2003-04 show Ask the Dust, travelling from New York to Toronto, to Middelburg (the Netherlands), Seoul (South Korea) and Los Angeles. The eshibition catalogue has become a collector's item. Their work has also been seen in public institutions such as the Yerba Buena Center, San Francisco, the National Gallery of Canada, Musee d'Art contemporain, Lyon, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, the Centro de Arte Caja, Burgos, Spain, the Liverpool Biennial and in commercial galleries in London, Dublin and Madrid.