View on Canadian Art

In light of the recent awarding, to Art Gallery of Ontario Director Matthew Tietelbaum, of the annual MOCCA award - $20,000 that recognizes a Canadian active in the art world for a contribution of “national or international significance”, a blog entry from Time.com seems relevant.

In it, Richard Lacayo writes about the “emergency de-accessioning” (bailouts for museums) that is emerging south of the border, as museums struggle along with the rest of the economy.

Read it HERE and former Whitney Museum curator David Ross’s response HERE.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, designed by Isozaki Arata (1986). It received a bailout by billionaire collector Eli Broad last month. Image: britannica.com/Ken Biggs—Tony Stone Images.

(Come to think of it, how much longer will these corporate-sponsored arts awards be around? The MOCCA award is underwritten by BMO, EllisDon and others…)

We wondered about institutions closer to home, and, well the Royal Ontario Museum isn’t looking too good. We’re not aware of the details, but it appears that it may be in for a dicey future, what with Daniel Libeskind’s embarrassing crystal addition and $22 entry fees. And the current diamond exhibition - surely they can’t be serious??? In our opinion, the least the ROM could do would be some creative curating. It wouldn’t have to cost huge amounts. We’re talking paint, projections….energy! Amazingly, for an institution with a new (ish) addition by a starchitect, the place feels like a dead zone. (And a unfortunate waste of money.)

A completely fake image of a fake diamond from a fake website. But still, a great idea. image: brightonbam.co.uk

The diamond show could have had glittery walls, artfully lit. What about the history of diamonds in Pop culture? Marilyn, anyone? Andy Warhol’s Diamond dust paintings? What about the phenomenon of bling? Diamond-encrusted technology - hello, Pharrell? It might have been kitch, but at least it would have been fun.
And the show could have focused less on the techical and more on the beautiful. (And…The gift shop could have been less horribly cheap and tacky.)

In short, museums shouldn’t pander to the lowest common denominator. They should be places that educate, but that also inspire, amuse and engage. The AGO seems to understand this. Let’s hope the ROM learns, too.

Will the ROM raise its game now that the AGO is the city’s newest hotspot? Stay tuned….

We hear rumours of Ydessa Hendeles curating a show on Luxury…that would certainly be a reputation-saving move.

Visit the ROM’s website - free of charge - HERE. Go to the Sneak Peek section for a glimspe behind the scenes as the galleries were being finished and installed.

Here’s my piece on the New York artist Ryan McGinness, who showed his graphic paintings and incredible perspex sculptures - which, we think are a near-perfect marriage of dynamic form, colour and transparency delivered with frothy lightness - at Artcore in Toronto in October. It’s in the current issue of Azure magazine.

Ryan McGinness, In-progress maquettes for sculptures, acrylic on acrylic, 2008. Image: ryanmcginness.com

Click the thumbnails, and click again to enlarge the text:

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From the New York Times: As Pierre Théberge prepares to end his 11-year tenure as the director of the National Gallery, Canada’s wealthiest art institution is immersed in a controversy that has more in common with television comedies like “The Office” than debates about expenditures on paintings…

David Franklin, the deputy director of the National Gallery of Canada. Image: nytimes.com

Read the full article by Ian Austen HERE

The exhibition WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution at the Vancouver Art Gallery presented quite an extensive survey of feminist art. According to the catalogue text, “in the space of a generation, feminism transformed social relations, personal identities, and institutional structures….the feminist revolution in art was no less radical and transformative than the social movement from which it drew strength.”

Hon, 1966, (monumentale sculptuur), Niki de Saint Phalle, Moderna Museet, Stockholm. Image: formartepura.fo.ohost.de

There were some excellent works on view. VoCA is a big fan of feminist art, which drew its political power from the backdrop of the patriarchy against which it was rebelling. In much the same way, African American art of the time raged against racism, and likewise ‘gay art’ against homophobia.

Some works in the show were reminiscent of other works. Suzy Lake’s A Genuine Simulation of…(1973-4) in which she applies whiteface before a full face of makeup, blush, eyeliner and shadow reminded us of Bruce Nauman’s video Art Make-up from 1967-68, in which he paints his torso and face white, then pink, green and black.

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1. Prime Minister Stephen Harper ignores the arts. Consequently, art becomes a political issue across the country as Quebec gives Harper the hairy eyeball.

2. The new AGO opens – Frank Gehry’s renovation of Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario is deemed an unqualified success, perhaps partly due to the budgetary constraints he was under. It’s simple in material, but opulent in design.

3. Mark Mayer is named new director at the National Gallery in Ottawa. The youthful 52-year-old brings considerable experience and, hopefully, a flush of new energy to the National Gallery.

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Here’s a fantastic piece from one of VoCA’s favorite blogs - Designboom - on one of VoCA’s all-time favorite artists, the Spaniard Miquel Barceló’s latest art installation in the UN’s Palace of Nations in Geneva.

We have admired the painter since we saw a retrospective of his work at the Richard Meier-designed contemporary art museum in Barcelona in 1997, and we look forward to seeing what he comes up with for the 2009 Venice Biennale, where he will represent Spain.

Workers installing the ceiling. Image: designboom.com/ONUART/Agustí y Antonia Torres

Click HERE for the article, and HERE for more on Barcelo.

The economic downturn is having a welcome effect on the “poisonous cocktail of vanity and self-delusion” that has been contemporary architecture, particularly in New York City, says Nicolai Ourossoff in the New York Times:

Read it HERE

Karl Lagerfeld and architect Zaha Hadid in the Mobile Art container, built to exhibit 20 artists’ tributes to the 50th anniversary of Coco Chanel’s launch of the black, quilt-stitched 2.55 bag with the gold chain. Image: vanityfair.com/Todd Eberle.

And Holland Kotter, also writing in the Times, notes that “the last crash opened the art world’s tightly guarded gates to a wave of upstart talent and radical new ways of thinking. That was great. It could happen again.”

Read more on his notable events from 2008 HERE.

VoCA reports from Vancouver next week…

Vancouver. Image: drumcafe.ca

…Stay tuned!

We’ve been intrigued for a while now by the cuisine of Ferran Adria, the Spanish chef for whom food seems a material with which to create a kind of conceptual art experience.

Adria’s peach paper ‘tramontana’, 2005. Yes, it’s edible. Image: elbulli.com

In honour of all the food that surrounds the holidays, we’ve linked HERE back to art critic Jerry Saltz’s great review of his meal at Adria’s restaurant El Bulli.

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VoCA contributor Jenny McVean reports from London on Michael Snow’s exhibition at the British Film Institute:

Legendary Canadian artist Michael Snow has worked in various media since the 1950s such as music, sound installations, sculpture, photo-works, holography and painting, but it is his film works that are highlighted in this exhibition at the BFI Southbank Gallery in London.

Michael Snow, Wavelength, 1967. Image: avantofestival.com

In Yes Snow Show, Snow is positioned as a leader in experimental film (which he is), through a range of works that use simple imagery to shed light on the history of art and the formal practice of filmmaking. Snow has said that in his film work “the aspects that are particular to cinema become the protagonist” such as the relationship between sound and image, and the movement of the camera lens through space.

His Wavelength of 1967 has been cited an extremely important work in the history of experimental film, and artists and filmmakers such as Chantal Akerman, Bill Viola, Dan Graham, Wim Wenders and Paul McCarthy refer to him as a key influence.

Click HERE to watch a clip of Wavelength.

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