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A guide to the best exhibitions and events in the visual arts
Elements of myth and reality are digitally fused into a dreamlike interpretation of the complexities of modern First Nations existence in M: Stories of Women, Niro’s latest photo series. Oct. 14 to Nov. 12. Gallery 44, 120–401 Richmond St. W.
Renewed interest in the modes and materials of abstract painting has launched a fresh cast of artists and visual perspectives on to the Canadian art scene, including the coded “fields of knowledge” of the Calgary painter Bradley Harms. Sept. 29 to Oct. 22, 2011. Angell Gallery, 12 Ossington Ave.
Riddled with hints of geometric abstraction, modernist design and a bibliophile’s passion for the book as both idea and object, Sullivan’s work creates open-ended narrative possibilities that are at once conceptually precise and purposefully oblique. The Toronto artist gets double billing this fall with new drawings and sculptures at Jessica Bradley Art + Projects and “Albatross Omnibus,” a 52-book commission for The Power Plant. Opens Nov. 12/Sept. 23 to Nov. 20, 2011. 1450 Dundas St. W./231 Queens Quay W.
The New York–based photographer, whose series on the mountain cabin hideout of Ted Kaczynski (aka “the Unabomber”) was a standout at the 2006 Whitney Biennial, presents selected works from his decade-long project Animal Logic, which documents the uneasy and at times surreal divide between artifice and the natural world as seen in the stage-set displays at natural-history museums. From Sept. 10 through 24, 2011. Bau-Xi Photo, 324 Dundas St. W., Toronto, ON.
Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami are among today’s best-known, not to mention commercially successful, artists. The group exhibition “Pop Life: Art in a Material World” provides a historical framework for them, and others, by telling the story of a generation of artists influenced by the late career of Andy Warhol. These figures reject the avant-garde role historically associated with artists and instead choose to embrace the cultural mainstream, both in an entrepreneurial sense and in terms of viewing mass media as well as the marketplace as legitimate and appropriate platforms for getting a message out. The show allows for a nuanced consideration of artists’ “branding” and ultimately sheds light on some of the pervasive— but often unacknowledged—forces shaping today’s art world.
Jonathan Shaughnessy is Assistant Curator, Contemporary Art, at the National Gallery of Canada. He is the coordinating curator of the Ottawa showing of “Pop Life,” which is on view at the NGC from June 11 to September 19, 380 Sussex Drive.
The things that we build embody our highest aspirations and basest instincts of survival. They also express our will to establish dominion over territory. “Empire of Dreams” is inspired by what I’ve noticed as a trend among artists and in certain exhibitions recently: examining ways in which we exist within our built environment—our interaction and experience with the spatial, architectural, socioeconomic, technological and, of course, physical and imaginative conditions that shape relationships to our surroundings. You could say that it’s a 21st-century variation on the classical landscape themes. It also happens to be the second of our biennial exhibitions highlighting work by Toronto artists.
David Liss is Artistic Director and Curator of the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art in Toronto. “Empire of Dreams: Phenomenology of the built environment” is on view at MOCCA from June 19 through August 15, 952 Queen St. W.
The Ontario-based artist duo unveils a new set of long-running installations that embody the ”commonplace magick” of their instantly recognizable witchy aesthetic. From June 26. Rodman Hall Art Centre, 109 St. Paul Cres., St. Catharines.
Vast watery expanses, indeterminate ports of call and an inherent sense of longing set the stage for “a visual meditation on the state of transit in a geographical no man’s land” in the French-Algerian artist’s video work MiddleSea. Until July 24. Prefix ICA, 124–401 Richmond St. W.
Tribal rhythms, masks, animal imagery and other tropes associated with Africa all play a role in Fernandes’s interrogation of the nature-culture continuum and intercultural dynamics. To Oct. 2. Art Gallery of Hamilton, 123 King St. W.
The hybrid play of imagined architectural space and found digital imagery informs a suite of new objectbased paintings by the Vancouver artist. June 24 to July 25. Clark & Faria, 55 Mill St.
Kissick balances funky exuberance with intelligent art-historical critique in “A Nervous Decade,” a ten-year survey of his explorations of the expressive conventions and languages of abstract and hybrid painting. June 18 to Sept. 5. Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery, 101 Queen St. N.
A group exhibition of 22 Canadian and international artists explores the innate bond and uneasy balance of power between humans and the animal world. On view June 18 to Sept. 12. The Power Plant, 231 Queens Quay W.
Fact and fiction merge to activate new historical understandings in this group display organized by New York’s Independent Curators International. With works by an A-list cast of more than 15 international practitioners, including Cao Fei, Omer Fast, Jeremy Deller, Joachim Koester and the Montreal artist Emanuel Licha, the show posits that truth is a malleable social and political commodity best seen with a critical eye on both past and present. To Aug. 29. Art Gallery of Ontario, 317 Dundas St. W.
The stylized and spectacular sci-fi imaginings of the 1960s live again in darkly out-there sculptures and diorama pieces by Brandon Vickerd, Kevin Yates and Donovan Barrow. On view July 9 to August 21. Cambridge Galleries, 1 N. Sq.
The Canadian art icon marks her 100th birthday with the twovenue exhibition “Roughing It in the Bush,” featuring rarely seen hard-edge paintings from the 1960s set alongside her trademark large-scale landscapes. To July 24. University of Toronto Art Centre, 15 King’s College Circle/Doris McCarthy Gallery, 1265 Military Trail.
Talk to take place January 26 at the Art Gallery of Ontario
Canadian premiere of new Marina Abramović documentary to be fêted February 22 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox
All our best wishes for the new year to come
Talks by Dan Cameron and Annie Cohen-Solal, free gallery programs among highlights of 2011
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Free exhibition at the Power Plant highlights our nation’s emerging painting stars
Award in Portrait Photography category recognizes Donald Weber's artist project in the Fall 2010 issue
More than 300 GTA teens enjoy free downtown-Toronto gallery talks during this fall’s School Hop
In 2010, at the age of 35, Toronto artist/DJ/promoter/activist Will Munro succumbed to brain cancer. Here, David Balzer reviews the first big survey of Munro’s work, which makes apparent how talented, prolific and perceptive this creator was.
The Dulwich Picture Gallery’s recent Group of Seven show was one of the UK museum’s biggest hits ever, drawing 41,000 visitors. The attention was deserved, writes Sarah Milroy, as the exhibition offered new insights even to seasoned Canadian-art observers.
The Occupy movement has galvanized the way we think about haves and have-nots. But where do artists fit in? As Joseph R. Wolin observes in this review of David Altmejd’s show at the Brant Foundation, context can be as powerful as content in determining the split.
What happens to identity when our relationship to land and language is disrupted? This is a key question raised in “A Stake in the Ground,” an exhibition of works by 25 First Nations artists, curated by Nadia Myre, that’s currently at Montreal gallery Art Mûr.
Our education and careers site has just posted more stories and tips to help students achieve a great winter term. Highlights include a profile of internationally renowned fashion designer Jeremy Laing, a Q&A on grad schools and more.
