Your Cultural Concierge! VoCA offers critical commentary on the Canadian art scene, with a focus on Toronto. Featuring exhibition previews, critics picks, interviews and in-depth articles on art in Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Halifax.
June 4th, 2008 — Artists, Calgary, Events/Talks, Exhibitions, News: Canada, Painting, Sculpture/Installation, Toronto, Winnipeg
1. NEWS: CALGARY
Dennis Oppenheim’s sculpture, Device to Root out Evil moves to Calgary from Vancouver.
Dennis Oppenheim, Device to Root out Evil. Image: metamedia.stanford.edu
Originally celebrated by the Vancouver Sculpture Biennale and arguably the most valuable piece of public art in Vancouver, Oppenheim’s compelling 22-foot glass, steel and aluminum structure became more than the Vancouver Public Parks Committee could handle.
May 8th, 2008 — Architecture, Artists, Exhibitions, First Nations/Inuit, Ottawa, Photography, Winnipeg
OTTAWA:
Carlton University Art Gallery
Michèle Provost: Selling Out
Ron Giii: Hegel’s Salt Man
Nanuit: The Polar Bear in Inuit Art
5 May – 24 August 2008
Ron Giii, Atomicus Removing The Atomic Space, 1985. Image: paulpetro.com
RON GIII: Coming from the University of Toronto, this survey exhibition of the brilliantly-named Ron Giii’s work features early work, performance documentation and other ephemera, a selection of his voluminous writings, and more recent drawings and oil stick paintings.
April 25th, 2008 — Artists, Exhibitions, News: Canada, Photography, Toronto, Winnipeg
Winnipeg photographer (and VoCA favorite) Sarah Anne Johnson is the winner of the inaugural Grange Prize for Contemporary Photography.
The annual $50,000 prize is the largest of its kind in Canada and the only prize entirely determined by the public. The AGO will present an exhibition of Johnson’s work in the spring of 2009.
Sarah Anne Johnson, Clearing the Yard, 2005. Image: bulgergallery.com
April 21st, 2008 — Artists, News: Canada, Winnipeg
The artist A.A. Bronson, former member of collective General Idea and presently director of New York’s Printed Matter Inc. has been rejected by the University of Manitoba for the position of director of the School of Art.
VoCA thinks that the shortsightedness of the University has resulted in an unfortunate missed opportunity.
A real shame.
A.A. Bronson. Image: artnet.com
Following are excerpts from the job posting from the university’s human resources department, A.A.’s letter of interest (removed), his C.V and finally, a letter to the Other Gallery’s Paul Butler (removed).
April 2nd, 2008 — News: Canada, Toronto, Winnipeg
1. NEW DIRECTOR AT THE WAG, WINNIPEG:
Dr. Stephen Borys has been appointed as the Director of the Winnipeg Art Gallery.
The Winnipeg Art Gallery - Dr. Borys’ new home. Image: glasssteelandstone.com
March 5th, 2008 — Events/Talks, Exhibitions, Winnipeg
Manitoba Arts and Culture Week: March 8 – 15
Manitoba arts and culture week is a week-long showcase of arts and cultural activities. Dance, theatre, music and the visual arts are celebrated throughout the province. Here are some interesting exhibitions on in Manitoba:
For the full schedule, please click HERE.
1. ALICIA POPOFF: PRAIRIE MEDITATION at the Ken Segal Gallery.
Mixed media works by the artist about her experience of life on the prairies.
Alicia Popoff, Space Whorls, 2006. Image: kensegalgallery.com
February 13th, 2008 — Exhibitions, Winnipeg
Subconscious City at the Winnipeg Art Gallery
8 February – May 11, 2008
Diana Thorneycroft, Audition for Eternal Youth, 2007. Digital photograph (triptych).
Image: wag.mb.ca
Subconscious City, currently on view at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, is an exhibition filled with a lot of quiet, quirky pieces, but the show’s impact comes through loud and clear. With an impressive, diverse roster of both emerging and established artists working in a variety of media (including video, painting, ceramics, and electronics), Subconscious City attempts to examine and explain Winnipeg’s curious civic identity.
February 12th, 2008 — Calgary, Winnipeg
Both Calgary, Alberta and Winnipeg, Manitoba are surprisingly creative cities. Calgary’s nearby Banff Centre has long been recognized as an international meeting place for creative minds, while Winnipeg’s Royal Art Lodge famously produced Marcel Dzama. (VoCA loves his new dioramas!)
But there’s more to these art scenes than meets the eye…
CALGARY
1. Collective: The Arbour Lake Sghool - click HERE
In the spring of 2007 we decided that we’d had enough of our lawn, and that a nice, rippling field of wheat would look much prettier and break up the Kentucky Bluegrass monotony of our neck of the woods. We also (ludicrously) decided to do all the work, from tearing up the old to planting the new to harvesting our crop, by hand. And we did it! We ended up using barley instead (you can make beer from barley!), donated graciously by Patterson Farms.
February 6th, 2008 — Montreal, News: Canada, Photography, Vancouver, Winnipeg
VANCOUVER
The VAG acquires 2 Jeff Wall photographs:
Jeff Wall, Concrete Ball, 2002. Image: tate.org.uk
To read the article, please click HERE
Continue reading →
January 17th, 2008 — Loved & Loathed, Winnipeg
When in Winnipeg this week, VoCA toured a few galleries. We met loads of people, we caught up with others, we loved, and we loathed.
LOVED:
-Christi Belcourt, Off the Map: Perspectives of Land, Water and Metis People at Urban Shaman
January 18 – 1 March, 2008
Christi Belcourt, Coat for Harry, 2005-06. Image: chrstibelcourt.com
Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...Read full bio
