About 4 years ago, we predicted the importance of mirrors in art.

Michelangelo Pistoletto breaks mirrors during a performance for the creation of his “Twentytwo less two” installation at the 2009 Venice Biennale. Image: inapache.boston.com

And then we started to see it, slowly seeping in: David Altmejd’s mirror-covered pavilion at the 2007 Venice Biennale, Michelangelo Pistoletto, resurrected in Venice in 2009, Gwenaël Bélanger’s excellent shattering mirror video work at the Quebec Triennale, Michel de Broin’s stunning mirror-covered rock set deep in the forest…and this year, finally, we hear that the Armory featured many works with mirror.

Gwenaël Bélanger, Faux Movement 2008 Detail. Image: canadianart.ca

It makes sense – using mirror in work pulls the viewer into the piece like a magnet. It makes the art about the viewer and, importantly, extends the space between viewer and artwork. Of course, artists have long used mirror -  Michael Snow’s famous piece Authorization from 1969 is one of VoCA’s favorites.

Michael Snow, Authorization, 1969. Image: search.it.online.fr

Lately, we’ve been interested in Yves Klein’s famously patented hue, International Klein Blue.

Yves Klein, Blue Venus, 1961-1962. Image: cyrano.blog.lemonde.fr

That brilliant mid-blue is starting to be seen more and more, from high street fashion (last season’s H&M) to Graham Gillmore’s new paintings at Clark & Faria gallery. Toronto dealer Clint Roenisch has used it on his temporary website, we’ve used it on VoCA’s Twitter page (@carzoo) and it suddenly looks right against red brick in Lawrence subway station or as trim on red brick houses throughout Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood. In 2008, Chanel even made a handbag inspired by it.

A painting by Graham Gillmore from the current show at Clark & Faria. Image: VoCA

Click HERE for an article on Yves Klein’s “painting that scandalised Paris”, coming up for sale in May. The Independent calls works from this series “some of the most sought-after contemporary artworks of the age.”

International Klein Blue is more than a colour - it’s almost the essence of colour that you can sink deeply into. For Yves Klein, it was the “pursuit of the undefinable in painting..” That should certainly resonate in art today.

In Edmonton, a writer’s despair over provincial arts cuts is both convincing and less so on Government arts support.

“Alberta artists have taken the latest news of a 15-per-cent cut (to the arts) in their stride”, says Marliss Weber in SEE magazine.

Andrew Rucklidge, Sleeper, 2009. Image: courtesy the artist.

She continues, “Art allows us to express ourselves, which is an innate human desire. Without access to art, without the ability to write and draw and act and make music, or consume all of the above, we seriously limit the effectiveness of our communication abilities. We also limit our ability to persuade, to entertain, to connect with each other.”

Can’t argue with that.  She makes some good points in her article, and yet, while cities need the arts in order to thrive, her insinuation that the arts will cease without government support is troubling.

Read the full article HERE.

There will always be art, with or without government support and there should be absolutely no doubt about that.

A painting by Toronto artist Douglas Walker. Image: tulippress.ca

It’s dangerous to equate government support with the existence of the arts. Government support is important to many arts organizations and artists to get their work made, but there seems to be an idea in Canada that the government owes support to artists.

Does that help or hinder excellence in art?

It’s true that artists benefit greatly from government support, especially as the market is so weak in this country compared to the U.S.

But take a classical pianist, who succeeds with talent, along with drive and determination. So it is with art. If you’re not talented, you’d be wise to consider whether to make a career out of art. There’s nothing wrong with being an artist with a JOB. Ernst Beyeler, the legendary Swiss art dealer, referred to himself as a ‘Sunday painter.’ I think too many artists rely on government support. It’s a very generous situation that Canadian artists have, and it’s in many ways a wonderful thing, but it breeds mediocrity and complacency among the visual arts.

How’s that for a controversial statement? It’s harsh, but I believe it’s true.

Ben Reeves, Dog Walker, 2009. Image: johnbentleymays.com

Does government support mean better art?  Not necessarily.

Artists should pursue art for art, not for ego or adulation. To be creative is a wonderful, and necessary. But to be famous or successful to your peers is a different thing altogether.

For a while now, VoCA hasn’t been trotting off to art fairs the way we used to. This year, the New York Amory almost went unnoticed to us. But then we noticed that some people, curators, dealers…are choosing to remain home this year, too.

New York’s Armory Show. Image: thearmoryshow.com

Is it the end of the art fair?

A new non-fair, called the Independent, is on from March 4 - 7 at the Dia building in New York, and is billed as a “hybrid model and temporary exhibition forum.” It is the subject of THIS fascinating article in the Observer.

The article states that “New York is going through a moment right now—that the glitzy, frivolous culture of the boom years is giving way to a new era of intellectual engagement and open-minded community among art lovers.”

Johan Lundh’s evening of critical discussion at Fillip’s offices. Image: firtheaglandlundh.net

That same “new seriousness” can be found, here and there, in Canada, though our market wasn’t as deflated as that of the U.S. in the recent economic downturn. Nonetheless, upstart journals such as the excellent Fillip Review from Vancouver and Toronto’s publication Hunter and Cook, run by artists Tony Romano and Jay Isaac, show us that the art world wants to talk. Also, galleries around town are working discussion into their programming. The Toronto Free Gallery is a not-for-profit space that has long been doing this with events that express their mandate to provide a forum for social, cultural, urban and environmental issues.

The Toronto Free Gallery’s executive director, Heather Haynes. Image: photojunkie.ca

New festivals, like the Flash Forward photography festival (coming next fall to Liberty Village in Toronto) aim to blend exhibition opportunities with lectures, workshops and public art - in short, to provide a place for artists and the public to learn, and engage with art in a new, real, hands-on way.

This is also echoed by the Young Patrons groups sprouting up in this city. At various price levels and interest points, they range from the AGO’s NEXT, to the ROM’s Young Patrons Circle to the Canadian Art Foundation’s New Contemporaries (which - disclaimer - I help organize), all of which aim to generate interest, engagement, education and discussion about arts and culture.

Finally, the recent interest in art criticism that is blossoming in Toronto, particularly, in both serious and less serious ways, (and that took off with THIS VoCA post) is heartening.

VoCA loves our GG.  She understands the value of arts and culture.  Last week in Montreal, Governor General Michaëlle Jean gave this statement: “Culture must be able to express itself everywhere and always, and be accessible to as many people as possible, for it bears within it our choices, our hopes, our memory and our imagination.”

I See What You Mean, the Big Blue Bear at the Colorado Convention Center. Image: denvergov.org

On the evening of March 1, culture-minded Torontonians gathered at a Town Hall meeting to protest the City Council’s rejection of BeautifulCity.com’s initiative to have taxes from advertising billboards going toward arts and culture.

Check out past blog posts on that topic HERE and HERE.

It might not seem like a big deal, but it points to the fact that the arts community must keep fighting for recognition of the importance of art in Toronto. It’s the most obvious difference between Toronto and cities like Chicago and Montreal.

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Well.  Last night I did a “Face the Critic” at the Drake, with Leah Sandals and Richard Vaughn and it was…interesting, to say the least. I didn’t feel able to properly articulate my views - there were some big personalities in the room. But I learned a lot, and it’s always good to have your foundations shaken a little.

Brendan Flanagan, Reflective Pool. Image: brendanflanagan.ca.

The idea was that each critic would bring two works – one we ‘love’ and one we ‘loathe.’

Richard began by pointing out that he doesn’t subscribe to the idea of ‘loving’ or ‘loathing’, which is fair enough. Then he went on to talk at length, and very interestingly, about how much he loved an Allyson Mitchell work – one of her large, fun-fur covered Sasquatch sculptures.

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Join us TONIGHT for a FREE evening of art criticism as Leah Sandals, RM Vaughn and myself debate works by Judy Chicago, Kent Monkman and Vanessa Beecroft, among others.

Loved vs. Loathed.

A Louis Vuitton-inspired work by Vanessa Beecroft. Art?…..or hype? Image: femka.com

Are you ready?

More HERE.

We’ve been noticing something happening in the city, something slowly seeping into our daily lives without much fanfare. What is it?
Simply put, it’s artifice.

A real lawn vs. a fake lawn (in January) in Toronto’s Rosedale neighbourhood. Image: VoCA

It’s in your parks (fake grass in Douglas Coupland’s new park, down near the lake, and on Rosedale lawns), on your ice rinks (Harbourfront’s rink is now plastic, for all season skating) and on your street (bet you don’t know which downtown buildings are stone and which are stucco-covered Styrofoam.)  Not to mention in our food.

In our quest for perfection (thanks to having-it-all, all-the-time technology), we ignore what is natural in lieu of what is convenient. Where has physical labour gone? As Julian Baggini mentions in this weekend’s FT, describing Michael Foley’s new book The Age of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes it Hard to be Happy, “The promise of consumer culture, where all things good are just a chip and a pin away, makes people feel entitled to everything but responsible for nothing…”

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Here is the final part of an article written by former Winnipegger Edwin Janzen, an artist and writer currently based in Ottawa. The article was previously published in Drain magazine - you can read the full article, HERE, (under Related Essays) or click HERE for last week’s post on VoCA.

Roger Crait, Untitled, 2009. Image: umanitoba.ca

The Power of Myth
How Did Winnipeg and Its Art Become such a Big Deal?

By Edwin Janzen

The City Behind the Myth

Winnipeg artists — and the city as a whole — owe much to the considerable efforts of these influential “fixers.” For the representation of Winnipeg as a sort of mythic art mecca has surely been a good thing, hasn’t it? Winnipeg and its artists are receiving more attention than ever before, so can the repackaging of Winnipeg as a geographically and creatively charged nexus be anything else than an unmitigated good? If life gives you lemons….

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Dogs.We’ve been thinking about them a lot lately. Toronto is full of dogs. It’s a very dog-friendly city, aside from the over-salted winter sidewalks, which can be tough on paws.

William Wegman, Basic Shapes in Color, 1993. Image: dreamdogsart.com

With all the dogs comes bizarre dog owner behaviour. You see more and more people carrying their dogs around, like a living handbag, or a security blanket.  Can’t they walk?  And of course the outfits!  Some owners even dye their dogs fur.

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Today, we noticed a very interesting post on Regina Hackett’s excellent blog, Another Bouncing Ball, out of Seattle.

Kris Martin, Mandi VIII, 2006. Image: ps1.org via another bouncing ball.

It discusses how American politicians are negotiating the so-called ‘War on Terror’, coupled with some images of contemporary art that offer varying perspectives on the situation.

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