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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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
A reprised version of a 1981 drawing installation by the Conceptual art figurehead Sol LeWitt alongside a collection of LeWitt’s book works concludes Mercer Union’s 30th-anniversary year with a nod to the continued relevance of an ideas-first approach to contemporary art. On view July 10 to Aug. 18. Mercer Union, 1286 Bloor St. W.
Gallery 44’s annual spotlight on emerging photographers provides a key indicator of who and what to watch for in new photographic practices, including this year’s rising-artist contingent of Karen Zalamea, Christophe Jivraj, Aislinn Leggett, Meryl McMaster and Roger Proulx. July 9 to Aug. 7. Gallery 44, 120–401 Richmond St. W.
This year’s theme for CONTACT, “Pervasive Influence,” explores the authority of photography in a society devoted to the image. It asks: what are the illusions that images create, and are they preferable to reality? And how does that relationship transform human behaviour? Art practices today increasingly utilize the codes of advertising, the force of propaganda, the stylization of marketing campaigns—and vice versa. Marshall McLuhan’s theories offer a perfect frame for the theme. His ideas question the social effects of images, mass media and technology, as well as the way one medium of communication relates to, and may ultimately replace, another.
Bonnie Rubenstein is the Artistic Director of CONTACT. The photo festival runs from May 1 to 31 at venues in downtown Toronto.
The explosive drama of international headline news informs a sequence of meticulously staged large-scale photographic tableaux by the Montreal duo. From Apr. 29 to May 22. Nicholas Metivier Gallery, 451 King St. W.
Aquin uncovers poetic beauty in the midst of China’s ongoing industrial boom in his award-winning photo series “Chinese Dust Bowl.” Until Apr. 10. Stephen Bulger Gallery, 1026 Queen St. W.
Full talks and tours schedule, Douglas Coupland conversation info, and magazine launch details posted for free day of activities
Applications due May 9 for $55,000 in prizes
Free art tours for high-school students to take place in April and May
New writers on contemporary art encouraged to apply by June 1
Dates already set for next year’s Toronto festival
Applications for this $7,000 student award are due April 6
Event to feature a conversation with Douglas Coupland, gallery tours, a magazine launch and more
Films on Shary Boyle, Elmgreen & Dragset, Michel de Broin and Jon Gnarr set to open the festival on March 22
Opening-night celebration and art-industry talks highlight fifth year of fair
Don’t miss the North American premieres of films on Candida Höfer and Thomas Struth, happening February 23
The 85-year-old artist Arnaud Maggs nudged out Fred Herzog and Alain Paiement as winner of the second annual Scotiabank Photography Award, announced last night in Toronto. This $50,000 win follows the opening of a major Maggs survey at the National Gallery of Canada.
As one of the primary exhibitions for Contact 2012, “Public: Collective Identity | Occupied Spaces” is ambitious. Charlene K. Lau observes that the two-venue show mirrors the fractures of contemporary life: public and private, visible and invisible, place and non-place.
In this review, writer and artist Joni Murphy considers Abbas Akhavan’s current solo show in Montreal, which activates a variety of themes—war and art, destruction and nation building, human and animal—with a distinctively light touch.
Melding William Morris-style ornamentation with more contemporary concerns, artist Luke Painter detours around dry academicism for something more vibrant and visceral. Mariam Nader reviews his current Toronto show at LE Gallery, finding depth in decoration.
Frieze opened its first New York edition last week with some surprising highlights: sculptures that were free for public viewing outside the big commercial tent. Canadian Art art director Barbara Solowan was there, and brought back this slideshow.
