Bruce Mau. Image: guardian.co.uk

Designer Bruce Mau on CBC Radio’s This I Believe:

“It is art that sings to us and opens up our hearts to one another. It is art that gives meaning to things that would otherwise go unnoticed. It is art that connects us to our past. It is art that cracks a smile and laughs at our limitations, that speaks to us of the darkness we cannot say out loud. It is art that proves our worth, that demonstrates our capacity as inventors and lovers and wild untamed beings. And in the end it is art that allows us to understand and express science.

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LOVED:

The best artwork that VoCA has seen since Gregor Scheider’s Weisse Folter at Dusseldorf ’s K21 last month (see previous post below) is Andrea Fraser’s video Official Welcome, 2001 in the Power Plant exhibition Auto Emotion: Autobiography, emotion and self-fashioning, on through August 19 in Toronto.

Andrea Fraser, Official Welcome, 2001. Image: muhka.be

It’s free all summer and worth the trip down just for this one piece.

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LOVED:

VoCA hasn’t seen anything really mind-blowing lately, but then we still haven’t been to see the David Altmejd show at Oakville Galleries. Until we manage to get there, we recommend checking it out.

David Altmejd, The Academy (birds), 2005. Image: artnet.com

We did really like Shary Boyle’s sculpture at Jessica Bradley Art & Projects in Toronto. Her figurines and her watercolours are best. We love the detail, the consideration, the care that she puts into these precious objects. We have loved small, sculptural objects for a while now, and these are exemplary.

Shary Boyle, Untitled, 2005. Image: harbourfrontcentre.com Continue reading →

LOATHED: THE AGO

Umm…Is the Andy Warhol show still on? We haven’t had much cause to check out the Art Gallery of Ontario since we heard David Cronenberg’s audio tour of the show.

The Future Now is the title of one current exhibition. The website says: “Continuing the success of Favourites: Your Choices from Our Collection, this exhibition features more highlights from the permanent collection.” We recently received a press release stating that of the over 100 ship models from the 18th century gifted to the AGO by the late Lord Thompson, two are now on view as part of The Future Now.

For the rest of Thompson’s ship collection, the public will have to wait until 2008. Continue reading →

LOVED: THE POWER PLANT

We love the Power Plant’s current exhibition (see below) but more importantly we love the Power Plant’s new commissioning program. And even though we haven’t yet been formally introduced, we love the Power Plant’s new director, Gregory Burke.

Following the lines of Artangel’s “Angels” who fund their off-site art projects, the Power Plant’s new Comissioning Program relies on a number of prominent and culturally enlightened Toronto citizens to fund the production of at least one major new work of international significance each year.

The inaugural commission will be by Turner-Prize winning artist Simon Starling, whose commission is now resting at the bottom of Lake Ontario. Continue reading →

View on Canadian Art

– 1. LOVED
– 2. LOATHED
– 3. RECENTLY NOTICED
– 4. 5 THINGS TORONTO
– 5. 5 THINGS VANCOUVER
– 6. 5 THINGS MONTREAL
– 7. NUIT BLANCHE: TOP PICKS

Welcome to View on Canadian Art!

Have you bookmarked this page yet? Please do!

Now officially in our second year, we have moved ourselves onto this blog, for easier access…
We’ll be updating regularly with recommended exhibitons, events, openings, artists, galleries etc. in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal, with periodic news from Calgary, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Halifax and wherever else there are worthwhile things happening in the Canadian art world.

This month we begin by offering our top five things to see and do in Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto. We give you the low down on Nuit Blanche Toronto on Sept. 30 - if you see any art that night, these are the must-sees!

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