Archive for October, 2009

VoCA Recommends: David Hoffos at the National Gallery of Canada

David Hoffos: Scenes from the House Dream National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa 6 November 2009 – 14 February 2010 David Hoffos, Scenes from the House Dream: Barnett Newman, 2004 Detail of diorama. Image: canadianart.ca “I should say: the house shelters day-dreaming, the house protects the dreamer, the house allows one to dream in peace.” — Gaston Bachelard (The Poetics of
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News: Shary Boyle wins $25,000 Iskowitz Prize

So she didn’t win the Sobey Art Prize this year…but Shary Boyle has won the 2009 Iskowitz Prize from the Art Gallery of Ontario. Shary Boyle, Lovers, 2009. Image: canadianart.ca Awarded for her outstanding contribution to visual arts in Canada, the $25,000 Prize includes an exhibition of her work at the AGO in 2010. Visit Shary Boyle’s website HERE and
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Untitled: The Movie

It’s perhaps unsurprising, given the inflated heights to which it has recently risen, that filmmakers would be attracted to the comedic aspects of the contemporary art world. Martin Creed, Work No. 227 Lights going on and off, 2000. 5 seconds on / 5 seconds off Image: tate.org.uk In New York last weekend we saw the film Untitled, which offers an
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Report on Copenhagen

The 2010 Carnegie Art Award for Nordic art at the Kunsthal Charlottenborg offered a chance to compare new art from the Nordic countries with art being made in Canada. Like a lot of young Canadian art, there was strong work but much of it felt familiar, unsurprising and safe. Tone Kristin Bjordam, Liquid Landscape. Image: idfx.nl But much of it
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VoCA Goes to New York!

We’ll attend the opening of Untitled, a new movie about the art world. A still from the movie. Image: themusic.fm It’s a comedy, starring Adam Goldberg and set in Chelsea, Manhattan. The film tells the story of Adrian Jacobs, a difficult composer of equally difficult music whose sparsely attended performances involve musicians breaking glass and kicking metal buckets. In contrast,
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In the Air…

…In London: Sales were up at Frieze art fair in London apparently, but collectors are bargain-hunting. Artists continue apace, and you’ve got to hand it to Swiss artist Christoph Buchel for bravely exhibiting a pair of his old, worn socks on the floor of Hauser & Wirth, for sale at €20,000. Not sure if they sold. Christoph Büchel Socks, 2009.
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Report on London: Kapoor, Metzger, Kiefer

It’s art fair season, and VoCA was in London but opted out of the crowded, frenzied booths of Frieze and Zoo, choosing instead to focus on silent, monumental, brave and important art in the galleries. We also went to Copenhagen – but more on that soon. Anish Kapoor, Svayambh. Image: telegraph.co.uk In London, our favorite thing was the Anish Kapoor
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VoCA Goes to London!

We’ll be back soon with reports on Pop Life at Tate Modern, Gustav Metzger at the Serpentine, the Artangel commissions… Seizure, 2008 by Roger Hiorns. An Artangel commission by the Turner Prize-shortlisted artist. Image: tate.org.uk …Anish Kapoor at the Royal Academy, Radical Nature and Heather and Ivan Morrison at the Barbican, the Turner Prize shortlist, and much more!

Louis Vuitton: Art, Fashion and Architecture

Just found this on Luxist.com: Louis Vuitton’s new book: Art, Fashion and Architecture. Image: luxist.com “A seductive anthology of the famed French fashion house’s collaborations with an international group of elite artists, architects, designers, and photographers, including Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid, David LaChapelle, Annie Leibovitz, Takashi Murakami (whose updated LV monogram is featured on the cover) Richard Prince and Stephen
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Alberta: Glenn Ligon, John Gerrard & Toronto: Dan Graham

Alberta is seeing a lot of cultural action these days. There’s Santiago Calatrava’s controversial bridge, Lethbridge’s own (and VoCA favorite) David Hoffos with a large retrospective coming up this fall at the National Gallery of Canada, and Nigerian artist El Anatsui giving a talk tomorrow at the Glenbow Museum, courtesy of the Canadian Art Foundation, to name just a few
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