Hans Hoffman painting on the beach. Image: hanshoffman.net

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1. GUSTAV KLIMT AT THE NEUE GALERIE - We were really looking forward to seeing the Klimt painting - Adele Bloch-Bauer I (1907) - that Ronald Lauder bought for $135 million and that is prominently displayed as the centerpiece of the current exhibition of mostly prepatory drawings at the Neue Galerie.

Gustav Klimt: Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907. Image: cosmopolis.ch

But with all the glitz and sparkle of today’s contemporary art – thanks, Chris Ofili – we were expecting something awesome, like a glittering, sparkling mosaic. By comparison the mannered work in oil on canvas with gold and silver plating and vaguely Egyptian detail was a beautiful work, but it was if the slick production values of much of today’s contemporary art had dulled our senses.

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Javier Téllez, Production still from Letter on the Blind For the Use of Those Who See, 2007.
Image: whitney.org

1. THE WHITNEY BIENNALE - VoCA says – thank god for Javier Tellez! His video Letter on the Blind For the Use of Those Who See (2007), which premieres at this year’s Whitney, showed a group of blind people experiencing an elephant through touch. It was an incredibly moving piece that injected much-needed reality into a show that – let’s be honest - had a few too many LA-inspired modernist junk sculptures.

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Ronald S. Lauder showed off his $135 million portrait by Gustav Klimt. Image: nytimes.com

VoCA reports from New York this weekend!

Coming up:

-Klimt & the Wiener Werkstatte at the Neue Galerie
-Gustave Courbet at the Metropolitan Museum
-The Whitney Biennale
-Cai Guo-Qiang at the Guggenheim
-Loved and Loathed

…and more! Stay tuned…

Kenojuak Ashevak, Serge Giguere, Michel Goulet, Alex Janvier, Tanya Mars and Eric Metcalfe have won the 2008 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Chantal Gilbert has won the Saidye Bronfman Award for excellence in the fine crafts, while Shirley Thomson has received the outstanding contribution award for her work as a cultural administrator, gallery director and arts advocate.

In addition to a $25,000 prize, the winners will be presented with
original artworks created by furniture maker and designer Peter Fleming, winner of the 2000 Saidye Bronfman Award.

Kenojuak Ashevak is probably the best known and most acclaimed of all the remarkable Inuit artists who
have emerged in the North in the last half century.

More info HERE

Kenojuak Ashevak. Image: wikimedia.org

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VoCA wants to hear from YOU.

Image: prpulp.com

What kind of content would you like to see on VoCA?
What is your favorite section? Least favorite?
Would you enjoy international coverage? Less?

Over the next few months, we will be refining our content!

Watch for:

-A report from New York
-More artist profiles, interviews and (better quality) videos
-Recommendations of specific works of art that we think are ‘steals’
-A focus on art books

Please give your feedback below, thanks!

Last week, it was brought to VoCA’s attention that the student exhibition at the Agnes Etherington Arts Centre wasn’t the only game in town – click HERE for that post.

A work from the Salon des Refuses. Image: s22.ca

The Salon des Refuses is an exhibition mounted in response by some students to the “curatorially exclusive” What Have You Done? exhibition at the AEAC. The show features work by Philippe Baud, David Bayly, Cleah Bunting, Krzysztof Doniewski and Su Sheedy.

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Norman White. Image: wikimedia.org

“I have little interest in artistic creation which expresses things about me or the world that I had previously known. I have turned to computers for this work because they give me ample possibility for eluding my own contrivance.” – Norman White

Born in Texas and raised in Boston, Norman White has been based in Toronto since 1967. He taught himself electronics in the late 1960s and has since been recognized for his pioneering work in kinetic electronics.

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The international art world is rife with forgery, fraud and misappropriation - which makes for some fascinating reading.

This article, from Portfolio.com is about the fall from grace of renowned New York art dealer Larry Salander.

It’s a fascinatingly gossipy account involving former tennis star John McEnroe and the actor Robert De Niro, among others.

Read it right HERE.

VoCA happened to notice that this sculpture - credited as “A crucified Christ, on display at the new Salander-O’Reilly Galleries” on Artnet.com:

Image: artnet.com

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Two student exhibitions – one in Toronto, one in Kingston will perhaps shed light on some of our future artists to watch:

1. Golden Years: University of Toronto Tri-Campus Student Exhibition

March 18 - April 20, 2008

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