Canadian Art New Contemporaries: Dinner with Dean Baldwin
On Thursday, June 17, 2010, the Canadian Art New Contemporaries, a patron group for professionals under 40, enjoyed an intriguing event in an alleyway near the corner of College and Dovercourt streets in Toronto, where artist Dean Baldwin had set up Dean’s Canteen, a participatory art experience, in a rented garage.
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The view from inside Dean’s Canteen. |
Baldwin’s rough-hewn aesthetic was on show everywhere, from the thrones made from wooden shingles to a palm tree fashioned out of vintage waterskis.
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New Contemporaries member Adrian Love and co-chair Emily Thring sit on thrones made from wooden shingles. |
As part of his artwork, Baldwin—with his assistant, Karen—prepared some fantastic Italian appetizers and a bar where guests made their own strawberry mojitos. He also brought out a tray of oysters and taught guests to shuck them themselves.
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New Contemporaries co-chair Tatiana Read at the DIY mojito bar. |
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New Contemporaries member Nancy Tran shucks some oysters. |
Finally, a wooden board and several large balls of pasta dough made an appearance, and guests set to work forming hundreds of tiny orechiette pasta shapes. The cooked pasta was then tossed with pecorino cheese, black pepper and hot sauce, and dinner was ready.
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New Contemporaries member Jeremy Tabarrok enjoys his meal. |
Canadian Art New Contemporaries coordinator Andrea Carson formally introduced Baldwin, who described his creative practice and discussed his unconventional approach to art-making. Guests asked questions while they enjoyed the rough and ready cooking experience, surrounded by many of the artworks that Baldwin keeps in storage.
Dean Baldwin is one of Toronto’s best-known young artists. He attended York University and Concordia University, and in 2009 he was awarded the Canada Council International Residency in London, UK. Also in 2009, he directed Reverse Pedagogy 2, a residency held at the Palazzo Zen in Venice, Italy.
Baldwin’s work has been featured at Hart House during Nuit Blanche and more recently at the Art Gallery of Ontario. It has also been featured in numerous national and international publications. His work Attempt at an Inventory was published by MIT Press in the Alphabet City Series FOOD edited by John Knechtel. Baldwin is represented by Katharine Mulherin Contemporary Art.
The Canadian Art New Contemporaries promotes and creates access to our vibrant visual art community through specially designed programs and events where members meet and mingle with art world personalities and fellow members. Members also have the opportunity to directly engage with artists, critics, curators, collectors and leading art world figures through exclusive programs designed to deepen an understanding of contemporary art.
Contributions from the New Contemporaries directly support the work of the Canadian Art Foundation, a charitable organization that fosters and supports the visual arts in Canada. The foundation unites art, ideas and people from coast to coast through a diverse arrangement of national and international education programs.
Canadian Art New Contemporaries Co-Chairs: Jennen Phelan, Tatiana Read, Emily Thring
For information on next year’s calendar of events and to join, please visit the New Contemporaries microsite.
