VoCA offers critical commentary on the Canadian art scene, with a focus on Toronto. Featuring exhibition previews, critics picks, interviews and in-depth articles on art in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax.
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The Archive of Modern Conflict: CONTACT Photography Festival, Toronto

This year’s CONTACT photography festival kicked off with a bang at the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA) in Toronto. I was pleasantly surprised by this year’s show, Collected Shadows: Archive of Modern Conflict (AMC). An arrangement of images on the deep purple wall at MOCCA: Image: VoCA I had never heard of the AMC, even though it is Toronto
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Grow Op: Landscape at the Gladstone, Part Two

This is part two of my blog post about Grow Op, the exhibition on this weekend at Toronto’s Gladstone Hotel. Artists and designers have created installations – one in each room – on the second floor of the hotel, in the same way as they do for the well-known alternative design show, Come Up To My Room. I always discover
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Grow Op: Meditations on Landscape at the Gladstone Hotel, Part One

I stopped by the Gladstone Hotel‘s latest design exhibition last night. Curated by landscape architect Victoria Taylor, it’s the inaugural year of Grow Op, a landscape-based exhibition of experimental works that seek to ‘uncover new ways of expression and meaning through projects that represent a wide range of approaches from the prosaic to the poetic, the elemental to the ephemeral.’
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Design Writing: The Rise of the Mid-Rise

I’ve been freelancing in design circles again – here’s a piece I did for the Toronto Star’s Luxury Homes supplement. It’s on the new luxury lower-rise condos that are popping up around established downtown Toronto neighbourhoods. This kind of luxury means fewer neighbours, bigger units often overlooking a park, and convenient access to amenities. I focused on three: ABACUS, ORIGAMI
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Daniel Barrow: 2013 Glenfiddich Prize Winner

Winnipeg-born, Montreal-based visual and performance artist Daniel Barrow, winner of the 2010 Sobey Art Award, was recently awarded the coveted 2013 Glenfiddich Artist-in-Residence Prize, valued at over $20,000. VoCA contributor Catherine Toews had a chance to speak with Barrow via e-mail and he was kind enough to share his plans for the residency, insight into his creative process, and advice
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The Kingston Prize for Portraiture is Back!

The Kingston Prize is back! The national biannual prize for portrait painting, which I wrote about back in 2011 HERE, is again accepting submissions from artists. Michael Bayne, Kingston Ontario, Orange Grandma, oil on wood panel, 15 x 10 cm. Winner of The Kingston Prize 2011. Image: kingstonprize.ca The $20,000 prize is awarded to a painting of a specific Canadian
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Book review: Leonardo and the Last Supper by Ross King

Among Leonardo da Vinci’s writing and journals, one note in particular reveals his genius: his desire to paint “Man, and the intention of his mind.” Da Vinci’s constant search for new ways to reveal the world through art defined the Renaissance and set an artistic standard for centuries to come. Ross King’s excellent examination of one of da Vinci’s undisputed
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Review: TRACES at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria

Here’s another review from Victoria-based contributor Catherine Toews. Catherine is an artist, graphic designer, writer, and cultural sector worker. TRACES is on view at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria until April 21, 2013. Daniel Barrow, installation view, The Thief of Mirrors, 2012. Mixed media projection installation. Photo courtesy of the artist When I was an art student in Winnipeg,
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Loved: Thomas Demand at DHC Art Foundation, Montreal

The DHC Art Foundation in Montreal is small, and wonderful. The exhibitions  that I’ve seen there have been beautifully installed and it’s a lovely experience to see so few works at a time, curated as they are across four intimate floors and into a nearby space.  Thomas Demand is well known in Europe as the photographer who meticulously recreates images
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Arts Community: Embrace the Condo!

If you don’t often walk along Queen Street from Bathurst to Gladstone, you would be surprised by the amount of new development in the area. Over the last few years, small brick single or two-storey buildings have given way to larger, glass-fronted retailers anchoring mid-rise condominiums. The Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, Toronto. Image: terminartors.com Among the community, there has
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