Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Nul/Flirting with the Puck 2008. Image: canadianart.ca

1. Kinetic works by the former Sobey Art Prize winner Jean-Pierre Gauthier at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia from December 18, 2009 to March 15, 2010.

A drawing by Dan Perjovschi. Image: romanianculturalcentre.org.uk

2. The curators at the ROM finally see the light and bring in Romanian artist Dan Perjovschi to graffiti the walls of Libeskind’s precious crystal. The artist will work on the walls ‘live’ during gallery hours from February 13 to 22, and the show continues to next summer.

A portrait piece of Janusz Dukszta by Evan Penny. Image courtesy UTAC.

3. From 19 January to 13 March 2010, collector Janusz Dukszta is the subject of a new show at the University of Toronto Arts Centre. It’s curated by Gordon Hatt and should be an interesting comment on the artist/patron relationship.

“With their artists competing on an international stage, Canadians can no longer complain of their country as a cultural backwater nor luxuriate in the nostalgic charm of provincialism. In art as in political, social and economic activities, Canada is fully involved in the world of today,”
– Dr. R. H. Hubbard, former Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Canada.

Guido Molinari, Untitled, 1964. Image: artnet.com

Walking down Bloor Street in Toronto last night, we stopped at a bookshop’s outdoor display and there, right in front of us, on sale for $1.99, was a copy of Canadian Art Today, originally published in 1970 by Studio International.

Edited by William Townsend, a professor at the University of London, the slim book is filled with contributions from Canada’s art elite at the time: R.H. Hubbard, then chief curator of the National Gallery of Canada, Doris Shadbolt, then curator of the Vancovuer Art Gallery, curators Dennis Reid, Pierre Theberge and David Thompson.

“Canadian artists were dependent for generations on the artistic traditions of France and England and it is only since the last war that contemporary American influences have made a decisive impact,” writes Townsend.

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Confluences: Rencontre entre Montreal et le Bas-Saint-Laurent
June 14 - 13 September, 2009
Musee Regionale de Rimouski

Should you find yourself in Quebec this summer, this exhibition seeks to bring together a rencontre between Montreal and the lower St. Lawrence. The show looks promising!

Guillaume Lachapelle, Manege 16, 2004-06. Image: guillaumelachapelle.com

Featuring work by 13 artists (who you may not know of) including Magalie Comeau, Sylvie Moisan and Guillaume Lachapelle, whose miniature theatrical installations VoCA loves.

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How relevant are art schools today? Do artists really require education beyond basic technical training? Do art institutions hinder, rather than help the creative expression of artists today?

Bruce Nauman, The True Artist Helps the World by Revealing Mystic Truths (Window or Wall Sign), 1967.
Image: truthinart.wordpress.com

And what does Bruce Nauman think?

Read my opinion piece on the brand new news website, The Mark.

Click HERE.

Well, it’s down to five.

Who will win the $70,000 Sobey Art Prize this year?

After last years win by Vancouver superstar Tim Lee (stolen, we think, from Winnipeg’s excellent Daniel Barrow) and won the year before by Montrealer Michel de Broin (who we interviewed HERE and whose pedal powered Buick we covered HERE), this year it’s down to this group:

WEST COAST AND YUKON: Luanne Martineau, whose fuzzy felted pieces we really like for their craft element and references to Minimal art and painters like Philip Guston.

Luanne Martineau, Dangler, 2008. Image: akimbo.ca

PRAIRIES AND THE NORTH: Marcel Dzama, he of the much-copied naive drawings that were so much in vogue several years ago. From Winnipeg, where he lived, Dzama seemingly influenced all of Brooklyn. Now he lives in New York and shows with David Zwirner Gallery, where he’s been making sort of awkward dioramas.

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Stephen Rife: here lies
Léola Le Blanc: Désoreille
March 23 - April 4th, 2009
Anna Leonowens Gallery at NSCAD

Artist Stephen Rife. Image: mnartists.org

STEPHEN RIFE

Pyrotechnic artist Stephen Rife opens at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design’s Anna Leonowens Gallery tomorrow, as one of several thesis exhibitors.

Rife has long been experimenting with fire and the moving image in his art, and this exhibition presents “a combination of “active installation” and “miniature film palace,” and is a rough survey of his work from the past two years.

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1. Canada’s $70,000 Sobey Art Award has announced its longlist

Stay tuned for the shortlist announcement on May 1.

Ilan Sandler, Tactlility, 2005. Image: Ilansandler.com

WEST COAST AND YUKON
Rhonda Weppler & Trevor Mahovsky; Luanne Martineau; Keith Langergraber;Evan Lee; Julie York

PRAIRIES AND THE NORTH
Paul Butler; Marcel Dzama; Sarah Anne Johnson; Jon Pylypchuk; AltheaThauberger

ONTARIO
Shary Boyle; Christian Giroux & Daniel Young; Luis Jacob; Kelly Richardson; Derek Sullivan

QUÉBEC
David Altmejd; Raphaëlle de Groot; Manon De Pauw; Pascal Grandmaison; Adad Hannah

ATLANTIC
Alexandra Flood; Tara K. Wells; Ilan Sandler; Graeme Patterson; Joe
McKay

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The Audio Dome at NSCAD. Image courtesy NSCAD.

The Audio Dome is a glass, bell-shaped venue for sound art at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. It’s located at the north-facing entrance of the Port Campus in the Loggia and is situated approximately 8 feet from the ground allowing the speaker to focus the sound downward for a single listener.

Selected works will be played on a continuous loop for one week. New work will be presented every Monday to correspond with the exhibition schedule at the Anna Leonowens Gallery. Works selected for the Audio Dome will be promoted through the gallery’s newsletter.

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1. David Hoffos: Scenes From the House Dream
October 04 - 30 November, 2008
The Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge

David Hoffos, Scenes from a House Dream. Image: saag.ca

This exhibition, curated by Shirley Madill presents one of VoCA’s favorite Canadian artists, David Hoffos’ master work, Scenes from the House Dream. The House Dream project has formed the nexus of Hoffos’ studio practice for the past five years and serves as a compendium of the artist’s signature new/old media techniques which have been perfected over seventeen years of art production.

David Hoffos, Scenes from a House Dream. Image: saag.ca

Lethbridge, Alberta-based artist David Hoffos’ ongoing practice continues to explore the uncanny and its relationship to the everyday; his engaging mixture of both creates narratives that transcend time and place. The artist’s use of low-tech paraphernalia to produce illusions of reality has contributed to an entirely original body of work. The subject matter of his current production represents a move away from the outward-looking spectacle to a more personal examination of the human psyche.

David Hoffos is represented by Trepanier Baier Gallery. Please click HERE.

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Nocturne is Halifax’s first annual Nuit Blanche-inspired nighttime arts festival, bringing light and colour to the streets of Halifax, from 6 pm - midnight on on October 18th, 2008.

Francois Gaudet, pomme de pain. Image: galeriesaule.ca

Designed and initiated by volunteers within the community, Nocturne will be a signature arts event for Halifax that is easily accessible, free of charge and completely unique to the city. Attendees – tourists and residents alike - will have the opportunity to visit a number of the city’s art organizations, including both public and private art galleries, and experience art in many of Halifax’s public spaces.

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