[BCMA] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Lake Country Art Gallery Presents The Mystery Spot by Alexis de Chaunac - Site-responsive exhibition rooted in the Okanagan landscape

Thu Feb 26 06:22:16 PST 2026

*Exhibition Details*
*The Mystery Spot*
*February 28 – April 4*
*Opening Reception: Saturday, February 28, 1:00–3:00 pm*
at Lake Country Art Gallery

Lake Country, BC — Lake Country Art Gallery is pleased to present *The
Mystery Spot*, a site-responsive exhibition by Chicago-based artist Alexis
de Chaunac. Drawing from the Okanagan Valley’s orchards, agriculture, and
seasonal labour, the exhibition transforms the apple—one of the region’s
defining symbols—into a recurring form through which memory, ritual, and
perception are explored.

Positioned as both material and metaphor, the apple appears throughout the
gallery in drawings, prints, film, and installation. Works on paper in ink
and oil pastel depict abstracted apples that are cut, doubled, and
hollowed, oscillating between figuration and geometry. Through repetition
and variation, the fruit becomes a rhythmic device that opens interior and
exterior space, allowing the familiar to be seen anew.

Two projected videos extend this inquiry. One reworks the opening scene of
Earth by Aleksandr Dovzhenko, isolating and looping the image of an old man
lying on a bed of apples as his community gathers around him. This moment
is physically re-enacted in the gallery as a communal apple bed illuminated
by two car headlights. A second projection, live-streamed from this apple
bed, introduces another body at rest, linking land, memory, and ritual in
real time.

The exhibition unfolds as a sensory journey: industrial lights cut through
a darkened space, road sounds drift in and out, and cinematic imagery
echoes across walls and floor. Visitors are invited to enter the scene
themselves—lying on the apple bed beneath the glare of headlights—becoming
both observer and apparition within a landscape shaped by cultivation,
industry, and myth. As perception subtly shifts, the “mystery spot” emerges
not as a destination, but as a state of attention.

*About the Artist*
Alexis de Chaunac is a Chicago-based artist whose practice explores
spirituality, material histories, and the poetic potential of everyday
surfaces. He received his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago and his BA from Sarah Lawrence College. He is a recipient of the
Dedalus Foundation Fellowship and a Fundación Jumex grant. De Chaunac has
exhibited internationally, with projects at Galleria Ramo (Como, Italy),
Sargent’s Daughters (New York), and the Carrillo Gil Art Museum (Mexico
City). His work has been reviewed in *Whitewall Magazine*, *Whitehot
Magazine*, and *Artsy Editorial*. He is currently a faculty member at SAIC
and was a BOLT resident at the Chicago Artists Coalition.

*Collaborators and Acknowledgements*
Mural made in collaboration with *Nancy Wilde*
Apple bed and bin installations made in collaboration with *Byron Johnston*
Car light installation made in collaboration with *Paul Lewendon*
Special thanks to *Sumeet Gill and Farming Karma, Kelowna* for supplying
the Ambrosia apples
Special thanks to *Bob McCoubrey* for construction of the bed structure,
apple bin, and orchard ladders

*Introducing the New Curator at Lake Country Art Gallery*
With *The Mystery Spot*, Josh Willdigg presents his first fully curated
exhibition in the Okanagan, bringing his focus on storytelling,
cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the transformative potential of
creative exchange to the gallery’s exhibition program. A curator, writer,
and filmmaker from North West England, Willdigg believes in curating as
storytelling and is passionate about blending and bridging worlds with
artists inside and outside traditional contemporary art boundaries. A
Leverhulme Scholar for screenwriting, his largest curatorial project to
date was the multi-part *Football City, Art United.* with Factory
International, bringing together artists and footballers to produce
original collaborations. His work is guided by the belief that creativity
transforms rather than disappears, and that innovation begins when familiar
things are combined in unfamiliar ways.

Attached images

·        Invitation to opening

·        Alexis de Chaunac works in studio

·        Alexis de Chaunac with Josh Willdigg

For media inquiries, additional images, or interview requests, please
contact:
Curator joshwilldigg at lakecountryartgallery.ca 1-672-969-9602

Short Description

Lake Country Art Gallery presents *The Mystery Spot*, a site-responsive
exhibition by Chicago-based artist Alexis de Chaunac, rooted in the
Okanagan Valley’s orchard landscape and agricultural history. Using the
apple as both symbol and material form, the exhibition explores memory,
ritual, and perception through drawing, projection, and installation.

Works on paper depict abstracted apples that hover between figuration and
geometry, while two projected videos extend this inquiry. One reworks a
scene from Aleksandr Dovzhenko’s *Earth*, isolating the image of an old man
resting on a bed of apples. This moment is re-enacted in the gallery as a
communal apple bed illuminated by car headlights. A second projection
live-streams from the installation, linking land, memory, and the body in
real time.

Together, the exhibition unfolds as a sensory environment where the
everyday shifts into the poetic, and the “mystery spot” emerges through
subtle changes in perception.

*The Mystery Spot* marks Josh Willdigg’s first fully curated exhibition at
Lake Country Art Gallery, where his practice centres on storytelling,
cross-disciplinary collaboration, and the transformative potential of
creative exchange.

Petrina
250-899-2805

www.lakecountryartgallery.ca

Petrina McNeill - *Executive Director*
*Lake Country Art Gallery*
10356A Bottom Wood Lake Rd, Lake Country <https://goo.gl/maps/9ZBXw>
Open 6 days per week Tuesday to Sunday 9am - 3pm
*250-766-1299*

*We respectfully acknowledge that the Lake Country Art Gallery and Art
House are located on the traditional and unceded territory of the
Syilx/Okanagan people*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.museum.bc.ca/pipermail/listserv-museum.bc.ca/attachments/20260226/fe249e05/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Alexis de Chaunac  with Josh Willdigg.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 462385 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.museum.bc.ca/pipermail/listserv-museum.bc.ca/attachments/20260226/fe249e05/attachment.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: The Mystery Spot Invitation.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 144697 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.museum.bc.ca/pipermail/listserv-museum.bc.ca/attachments/20260226/fe249e05/attachment-0001.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Alexis de Chaunac  in studio.jpeg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 75605 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.museum.bc.ca/pipermail/listserv-museum.bc.ca/attachments/20260226/fe249e05/attachment-0002.jpeg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: The Myster Spot_FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE.pdf
Type: application/pdf
Size: 191628 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.museum.bc.ca/pipermail/listserv-museum.bc.ca/attachments/20260226/fe249e05/attachment.pdf>