Shary Boyle, 2005. Image: sharyboyle.com

The Sobey Art Award is now in it’s 4th year. It is a $50,000 prize awarded every year to an artist 39 years old or younger who has shown their work in Canada in the past 18 months.

A panel of curatorial advisors from each of five regions (Atlantic, Quebec, Ontario, Prairies and the North, and West Coast), develops the list, consisting of five artists from each region. The panel then meets and chooses one representative from each region to be included on the national shortlist. The panel selects the winner.

The award, previously a bi-annual event, has now gone annual.

BRIAN JUNGEN won the first prize, in 2002. Click HERE for more on Jungen.

Brian Jungen, Untitled, 2006. Custom painted Vaughn 5500 Pro goalie mask. Image: artmetropole.com

JEAN-PIERRE GAUTHIER won the next prize in 2004. Click HERE for more on Gauthier.

Jean-Pierre Gauthier, Tribute to a Barking Dog, 2004. Image: jackshainman.com

ANNIE POOTOOGOOK won last year. Click HERE for more on Pootoogook’s work.

Annie Pootoogook, Windy Day. Image: burdickgallery.com

WHO WILL WIN THIS YEAR’S SOBEY ART AWARD?

The 2007 shortlisted artists are:

JEAN-DENIS BOUDREAU – Atlantic region. Read the artist’s blog HERE.

A work by Jean-Denis Boudreau. Image:jboud.blogspot.com

MICHEL DE BROIN – Quebec. Check the artist’s website HERE.

Michel de Broin, the model, installation and final product of Superficial, 2004 in Alsace, France.
Image: micheldebroin.org

SHARY BOYLE – Ontario. Check the artist’s website HERE.

A projection piece by Shary Boyle. Image: sharyboyle.com

RACHELLE VIADER KNOWLES – Prairies and the North. Check the artist’s website HERE.

Rachelle Viader Knowles, You Pull Me Apart, 2005. Image: uregina.ca

RON TERADA – West Coast. More on the artist HERE.

Ron Terada, Concrete Language, 2006 (Photograph). Image: catrionajeffries.com

Why is the Sobey award significant to you?

These prizes are helpful for collectors when looking at artist’s work.

It means, first that a number of art professionals from the artist’s region think highly enough of the artist’s work to recommend him or her for the longlist, and second that the deciding jury have weighed this artist’s work off against a selection of Canada’s most interesting work.

A prize like the Sobey adds critical weight to the artist’s work and gives the artist much needed money to produce more work.

The winner will be announced tonight, at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia.
Stay tuned to see who wins.

It seems that VoCA’s Nuit Blanche summation could use some clarification.

(Click HERE to read the comment at the end of our post).

And then click HERE to read the response. You might want to scroll to the last comment: “Im interested in the funny way Vezzoli is “quoted” by VOCA at the end of a Nuit Blanche warp up or summation, whatever.”

When VoCA spoke with Francesco Vezzoli, he explained that artists today must provide a big experience. He equated the art system with the Hollywood system. He was, no doubt, speaking from his own point of view. I’m quite sure he wouldn’t presume to speak for all art or all artists. Neither would VoCA. We simply meant to suggest that as audiences for art are changing, art should change to respond to those audiences. Not everyone will agree, and that’s fine.

Um….YES.

Robert Fulford fleshes out this question in today’s National Post.

He asks: “Is our country too poor? Obviously not. Are we more miserly than other countries? Don’t think so. Have we never gone out of our way to impress on our politicians that museums are crucial to national well-being?”

Read the rest of the article HERE

In other news, the London Times published this:

Percentage change in art prices from June 2006 to June 2007

+7.6 Old Masters
-7.5 British 17th-century and 19th-century portraits
+19.1 European 19th-century art
+26.3 English sporting painting
-27.5 English watercolours
+6.3 English 20th-century painting
+8.7 English 19th-century painting
+44.3 Modern art
+55.3 Contemporary art

Source: Hiscox Art Market Research Index

Read the full article - about whether we are going to see the art boom go bust - HERE

“Le marchand - voilà l’ennemi!”, said Picassso of art dealers, referring perhaps to his own dealer, Wildenstein.

Les Pains de Picasso (Picasso’s Bread), reportage for Le Point, Vallauris, 1952. Image: dailyrefill.blogs.com

This article from The Economist is a good quick weekend read.

Find it HERE

The late Daniel Wildenstein and his two sons Alec and Guy photographed by Helmut Newton.
Image: petroz.com

There’s more gossipy reading on the uber-art collecting family right HERE

The article asks whether dealers are the saints or the sinners of the art world. Perhaps in an effort to avoid having to find out, a new model of artist has arisen, exemplified by British enfant terrible Damien Hirst who seems to be taking not only his career, but the market for his work, into his own hands.

(Even as his own hands have less and less to do with actual art making.)

Damien Hirst at the exhibition In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Image: BBC/heise.de

Hirst has famously negotiated to buy his own work back in the past, which makes his dealer, Jay Jopling seem somewhat superfluous.

Now he has joined with an investor group to purchase For the Love of God, his famous diamond-studded skull for 50 million British Pounds.

Read the details HERE

Michelangelo Buonarrotti, Pieta, 1499. Image: mulot.free.fr

This video is a must-see:

Click HERE to watch it.

Recently, a VoCA reader commented on a news item we posted on a Toronto collector donating this year’s Venice Biennale installation by David Altmejd to the Art Gallery of Ontario - a $300,000 gift. Our reader was questioning the acquisition policy of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

An installation by David Altmejd. Image: flashartonline

VoCA has heard grumblings from Toronto dealers about the lack of local artists in Toronto museum collections, so we asked AGO curator David Moos to comment. This is what he said:

VOCA READER: The (VoCA) story about the AGO and the Altmejd piece raises some interesting questions that VOCA might look into and write about. It concerns the acquisition policies of public Canadian galleries like the AGO and the National Gallery in Ottawa.

In this case private collectors footed the bill for a piece the AGO wanted. That’s fine. But the AGO has an acquisition budget of almost 1.3 million dollars a year (according to their most recent financial statement posted on the AGO web site - the National gallery has considerably more). The AGO could have bought the Altmejd piece on their own, but of course if someone wants to buy it for them then who is to argue? But would the AGO have paid for the piece if no one stepped forward with the cash?

DAVID MOOS: Yes, it is possible that the AGO could have acquired The Index, purchasing it from a newly created endowment fund that was a key component of the Transformation AGO fundraising campaign. Although the entire campaign is not fully completed, the Contemporary Art Acquisitions Endowment – with a goal of $5 million – has been successfully completed. This significantly enhances the AGO’s ability to purchase works of art.

In the recent past (before the endowment, which is just becoming active), the AGO did purchases works of art. Some examples of works by Canadian artists purchased since my arrival to the AGO in 2004 include works by Shary Boyle, Janieta Eyre, Luis Jacob, Nestor Kruger, Tim Lee, Mark Lewis, Scott McFarland, among others.

In today’s rapidly expanding international art, no art museum can have enough money for acquisitions. If in the past art museums were often confined to merely spend what money they had available in endowment funds, today there are many more ways that the museum actively engages the art community to participate in the shared project of building a great collection of contemporary art. The example set by George Hartman and Arlene Goldman is merely one of a number of acquisitions that have been made through the direct generosity of local patrons and collectors. Increasingly, the museum’s collection reflects the dialogue that is shared between curators and collectors. This is a healthy development.

VR: And the larger question is how does the AGO decide how to spend its acquisition budget? My understanding is that they are loath to spend any money on contemporary Canadian art (by living working artists), preferring instead to have this type of art donated. They generally spend the money on older art and foreign art. Which raises the question of whether public galleries should be spending money to acquire new Canadian art?

DM: I hope by the names listed above – of purchases with AGO funds – that I have addressed your misconception about being “loath” to acquire works by living (and even still emerging!) Canadian artists.

Today works by established international artists is increasingly expensive; perhaps Canadian art is good buy… (VoCA says Word to that!)

Julian Opie and Henry Moore at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Image: artmatters.ca

VR: I believe strongly that they should. It is nice that people donate art to galleries but sometimes a gallery should pay for good work that no one wants to donate. Perhaps VOCA could interview curators at these institutions to find out why they do what they do.

DM: Great idea !

**VoCA WOULD LOVE TO HEAR YOUR COMMENTS ON THIS POSTING!**

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In April, the Toronto-based artist Kelly Mark was commissioned to design a shopping bag for Art Metropole to present at the Basel Art Fair, as they have done for years.

Hildegard Spielhoffer, of Tweek Lab, models the 2003 Maurizio Nannucci shopping bag.
Image: www.artmetropole.com

Mark’s design inverted the Canada council acknowledgement and logo that CC-supported artists and institutions are required to display on their invitations and press releases.

Kelly Mark’s design used the CC logo in a Gucci-like pattern across the bag, with a play on words at the bottom – in miniscule, barely visible type – that simply read:

The Canada Council for the Arts

gratefully acknowledges the support of Kelly Mark

Somehow…the text was sent to the Canada Council for translation. The CC, apparently incensed, forbade Art Met to use the logo in such a way, despite it having been reworked by a well-respected Canadian artist.

Though the Art Met board fully supported Kelly Mark, in fact encouraged her to print the bag anyway, according to the artist “it was an awkward situation since it was meant as a ‘gift’ which the CC didn’t want.”

Kelly Mark’s bag design. Image: Kelly Mark

VoCA says the Canada Council should lighten up.

In any case, the slightly-altered original design now exists as a button that Mark was asked to produced for the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Kelly Mark’s button design. Image: Kelly Mark

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Are these the most influential people in Canadian art today?

Don’t agree? Post a comment!

1. Curator: Wayne Baerwaldt.

Wayne Baerwaldt. Image: staffweb.uleth.ca

Curator of this year’s Montreal Biennale, curator of the prize-winning pavilion at the 2001 Venice Biennale (won by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller), and former Director of Toronto’s Power Plant, Baerwaldt is busy promoting artists from the West, particular from Calgary where he is director of the Illingworth Kerr Gallery at the Alberta College of Art & Design.

2. Gallerist: Catriona Jeffries.

Catriona Jeffries. Image: artnet.com

The Vancouver dealer extraordinaire opened an enormous industrial warehouse space on East 1st Street in Vancouver in June 2006, allowing room to exhibit the large scale mixed-media installations that her young artists are known for. Her roster includes art stars Geoffrey Farmer and Brian Jungen.

3. Patron: Salah Bachir.

Salah Bachir. Image: yorku.ca

The outspoken Toronto collector, publisher and businessman recently loaned a number of his Andy Warhols to the Oakville Galleries for a show that rivaled the much-hyped one at the AGO. He began seriously collecting in his early 20s and has been famously supportive of young gay artists over the years (particularly painter Attila Richard Lukacs.) His apparently outstanding personal collection now numbers over 500 works.

4. Young artist: David Altmejd.

David Altmejd and friend. Image: artnet.com

Although not living and working (or represented) in Canada, the London-based Montrealer is doing much to attract attention to the city’s art scene. He will be representing Canada at this year’s Venice Biennale, and with a solo exhibition presently touring the country, Altmejd’s delicate sculptural fantasies are unlike anything the art world has seen before. Using rock crystals, wigs and golden chains with architectural supports and taxidermied animals, his unique style has been snapped up by one of Manhattan’s hottest dealers - Andrea Rosen.

5. Established artist: A tie between Edward Burtynsky and Rodney Graham.

Ed Burtynsky. Image: rdcphoto.com

Artist Rodney Graham in one of his artworks. Image: artnet.com

While Burtynsky is the more popular, vocal, and perhaps more proactive (he founded high-level printing facility Toronto Image Works, co-founded Torontos’ Contact photography festival, received the TED Prize in 2004 and is an Officer of the Order of Canada among other recognitions), Rodney Graham has become one of Canada’s most highly-regarded and respected artists on the international art scene. He represented Canada in 1997 at Venice, had a spectacular solo exhibition that toured Canada in 2004 and is regularly included in museum exhibitions worldwide. He shows with some of the world’s top galleries (Hauser & Wirth, Donald Young, Lisson Gallery) and is gradually realizing his long-held dream of becoming a fully-fledged art rock star.

6. Director: Kathleen Bartels.

Kathleen Bartels with Bruce Mau. Image: vancourier.com

Having just renewed her contract for another five years at the Vancouver Art Gallery, Bartels looks set to continue leading the VAG on to great things. In her first term as director, the Gallery’s endowment increased from $200,000 to $5.7 million, admissions revenue doubled, acquisitions increased and programming became more international. Programming has concentrated on celebrating local stars, old and new, which has done much to promote the city as a scene with a strong past, present and future. Something that other directors in Canada might learn from. Exhibitions have featured work by local collectors Claudia Beck and Andrew Gruft, architect Arthur Erickson and young artists Brian Jungen and Jason McLean as well as Haida art.

7. Board member: Rupert Duchesne at the AGO.

Rupert Duchesne. Image: aircanada.com

Mr. Duchesne, who is president and CEO of Aeroplan, is a welcome addition to an institution on life support. He was the man behind the recently announced $50,000 Grange Prize, an annual art award that will go to a Canadian or international photographer. “The Grange Prize will nurture and advance the careers of artists and engage Canadians in the burgeoning genre of art photography. Our commitment to the form is evident,” gushed AGO director Matthew Teitelbaum.

8. Media: Sarah Milroy.

Casting her (not overly) critical eye across the Canadian art landscape, Milroy deconstructs contemporary art’s meaning for the Globe’s reader. The Review section brings Canada’s museum scene together - it’s the one place where you will read about the large group exhibitions at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the National Gallery in Ottawa, the Power Plant, the Musee d’Art Contemporain in Montreal and others.

9. Honorary mention: Phyllis Lambert.

Phyllis Lambert. Image: lestudio1.com

(Because even though she’s not strictly speaking visual art, she’s just so damn influential.)

The founder of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal - one of the country’s most wonderful buildings, libraries, bookshops and exhibition spaces - was famously instrumental in commissioning Mies van der Rohe for New York’s Seagram building in 1958.

Image: dccomics.com

Check out the response to my article on Art and the Media in Canada, on Zeke’s Gallery.

Ouch!

And then check out my comment…

Ever feel that you’re missing out on the art world? Couldn’t get to Miami in December? Or you’re just not feeling up to hobnobbing..? Well, you can indulge your voyeuristic tendencies - and it’s great people watching - at vernissage tv.

Bruce Nauman, Violins Violence Silence, 1981-82. Image: pbs.org/Bruce Nauman/Artists Rights Society

Play ’spot the art-world celebrity’ at the opening of the MoCA Miami’s Bruce Nauman exhibition HERE