An exhibition of work by this year’s Sobey Art Award Finalists opens August 27, 2008 at the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto.

Tim Lee, Goldberg Variations: Aria, BWV 988, Johann Sebastian Bach, 1741 (Glenn Gould, 1981) 2007. Image: canadianart.ca

This exhibition features over 50 contemporary artworks, including paintings, sculptures, performance art, video installations and photography, by the Award’s finalists, five of Canada’s most up-and-coming young artists.

The $50,000 Sobey Art Award is presented annually to an artist under 40 who has exhibited in a public or commercial art gallery within 18 months of being nominated. This year’s finalists include VoCA favorites Daniel Barrow (click HERE) and Tim Lee (click HERE).

Daniel Barrow, Honey (drawing from performance A Miracle) (2003). Image: newlangtonarts.org

The winner will be announced at a gala held at the ROM on October 1, 2008.

Tim Lee – West Coast and Yukon Tim Lee lives and works in Vancouver, British Columbia. He creates pieces using photography, video, text and sculpture, and his work will be featured at the upcoming Biennale of Sydney, Australia; in a Fall 2008 solo exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, UK; and a solo exhibition at the Contemporary Art Museum in Houston, Texas.

Daniel Barrow – Prairies and the North Daniel Barrow is a Winnipeg-based media artist, working in performance, video and installation through a practice referred to as “graphic performance” or “manual animation”. He has exhibited widely in Canada and abroad. Recently, Barrow has exhibited at The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, New Langton Arts in San Francisco, and The Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver.

Terence Koh – Ontario Born in Beijing China, Terence Koh grew up in Canada and calls Mississauga, Ontario home. Terence Koh’s work includes sculptures, installations, performances and artist books. Koh’s work will be featured in 2008 at Peres Projects in Los Angeles, the Schirn Kunsthalle in Frankfurt, Germany, and the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Castilla y Leon in Leon, Spain.

Hipper-than-hip bona fide art star Terence Koh, with friend. Image: style.blogs.com

Raphaelle de Groot – Quebec Raphaelle de Groot lives and works in Montreal, Quebec. Her work includes interventions, installations, performance, videos, and artist books. Born in Montreal in 1974, Raphaelle de Groot began showing her work in Canada and in Europe in 1996. She has been awarded several grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec. In 2006, she was awarded the Pierre-Ayot Prix d’excellence by the City of Montreal.

Raphaelle de Groot, performance of the artist during the exhibition En exercice, 2006, photo : Richard-Max Tremblay © Galerie de l’UQAM
Mario Doucette – Atlantic Acadian artist Mario Doucette lives and works in Moncton, New Brunswick. Doucette has shown his work professionally since 1998 in various mediums and genres – including drawing, painting, videos and super8 film. He has exhibited widely in Canada and has participated in several international exhibitions, namely in France, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic. Doucette is very active in the arts community and is a member of Collectif Taupe.

NOTA BENE: Daniel Barrow, presents a free public performance of his work, Every Time I See Your Picture I Cry, in the ROM’s Signy & Cleophee Eaton Theatre on September 30, 2008 at 4:00 pm.

This work combines overhead projection with video, music and live narration to tell the story of a garbage man with a vision to create an independent phone book chronicling the lives of each person in his city. This animation traces his attempts to slow down and creatively reflect, in a process of coming to terms with his own self-loathing and fear. The 50-minute performance features an original score by Amy Linton.