Winnipeg artist Daniel Barrow has won the 2010 Sobey Art Award. The prize awards $50,000 to a visual artist under the age of 40. I had a feeling he’d win, having been passed up for the award in 2008.

Daniel Barrow, Flaying, 2010, from his show at the Art Gallery of York University. Image: livewithculture.ca

Daniel Barrow at work giving a projection performance. Image: livewithculture.ca

Daniel Barrow, Kiss Me Before I Die, 2010. Image: jessicabradleyartprojects.com

Please see more of Daniel Barrow’s work on his website, HERE. He shows with Jessica Bradley Art & Projects in Toronto, where he will have an exhibition from November 20 — December 23, 2010.

There was quite a good vibe at the art fair in Toronto this weekend. While Toronto’s fair pales in comparison to those in Miami or London or New York, it’s less useful to compare them, and better to focus on the fantastic young Canadian talent to be found.

Mike Bayne, Untitled, from the series God, Shelter, Oil Painting and Hockey, 2010. Oil on panel. Image: VoCA

The fair was divided into new, young contemporary (to the west side) and more established (and less cutting-edge contemporary, it seemed, to the east.) Among a lot of average work, there were some really good pieces on view, some of which I’ve featured here.

The dealers whom I spoke with sounded positive, particularly those in the less expensive Next section (for younger galleries). There were plenty of red dots, indicating sold works.

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Harold Klunder, Invisible Plans ( Yellow Self-Portrait), 2007-2010, Oil on canvas. Image courtesy TrépanierBaer and Guy L’Heureux.

4. HAROLD KLUNDER – NEW WORKS – AT TREPANIER BAER

New paintings by one of Canada’s most highly acclaimed painters, Harold Klunder go on view at Trapanier Baer Gallery from October 16 – 13 November.

You’ve gotta love his self-portraits, no? I think they are really, really excellent. One of my favorites – not from this show – is this little series, below:

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Great curatorial minds think alike, it seems.

After what seems like an interminably long period of preciousness with Toronto’s starchitect-designed art spaces at the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum, the gloves are off.

Both institutions have invited artists to literally destroy gallery walls.

The gorgeous, Frank Gehry-designed AGO. Image: seanjohn.com

At the AGO, the glorious collages and installations of Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu will, for her first major solo exhibition, include a haunting series of drawings mounted on a ‘pockmarked’ gallery wall, which will be punctured and torn to reflect the post-colonial themes at the core of Mutu’s work.

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Scott Treleaven was born in Toronto, Canada and graduated from the Ontario College of Art & Design (OCAD) in 1996.

Scott Treleaven, My Ever Changing Moods, 2009, ink, photographs, watercolour. Image: kavigupta.com

Now based in Paris, he has shown in Chicago at Kavi Gupta, in New York at John Connelly Presents and has had a limited edition book published by Printed Matter Inc.

He is probably best know for his film The Salivation Army (2002), which caught the attention of the Village Voice in 2003, screening worldwide, most notably in the official Art Basel film program in 2004 and at the Museum of Modern Art in 2006.

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