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.
March 11th, 2008 — Uncategorized
The show confirms impressions of a new, gray mood among younger artists, one at odds with the recent prevalence in international art of both commercial glitz and festivalist brass. Call it a decline in producer confidence…
Read the article by the New Yorker’s Peter Schjeldahl HERE
February 3rd, 2008 — Uncategorized
January 21st, 2008 — Uncategorized
AA Bronson, excerpt from Mirror Sequences, 1969. Image: aabronson.com
1. AA Bronson’s School For Young Shamans at John Connelly Presents, New York
January 10 – February 16, 2008
This performative exhibition features a collaboration with erstwhile Canadian artist Terence Koh and works by nine young shamans including Winnipeg artist Michael Dudeck and VoCA favorite, the Tokyo-based Item Idem:
With a portrait by Bruce LaBruce, original score by Andrew Zealley and AA Bronson’s self portraits from 1969.
Two collaborations with Terence Koh consist of a double toilet cubicle joined by a glory hole: one is a miniature, a three-dimensional model; the other is an architectural installation that invites the performative.
January 15th, 2008 — Uncategorized
1. Canadian artists abroad: DEREK SULLIVAN, DAVID ARMSTRONG SIX
UNTITLED (ON PAPER)
January 10 – 9 February, 2008 at Moti Hasson Gallery, New York
Derek Sullivan, National Gallery Catalogue, 2004. Image: motihasson.com
In celebration of the traditional first anniversary gift of paper, New York’s Moti Hasson Gallery celebrates its one-year anniversary with a group exhibition of works on paper by artists including David Kramer, David Armstrong Six, Jennifer Murphy, Raymond Pettibon and Derek Sullivan.
The exhibition features artists who have created works that incorporate paper, but are not limited to drawings.
January 8th, 2008 — Uncategorized
Exquisitely contrived disorder
By Jackie Wullschlager in the Financial Times
Published: December 14 2007
Jeff Wall, Picture for Women, 1979. Image: courses.washington.edu
What happens if a politicised conceptual artist loves beauty? The Canadian artist Jeff Wall launched his career with “Picture for Women” – a clever photographic reprise of “A Bar at the Folies Bergère” – in the 1970s, a time when aesthetic seduction roughly approximated to the evils of capitalism. Wall was too intelligent, innovative and ethically committed to ignore the current sensibility, but too finely tuned as an artist, and too steeped in art history’s pleasures, to accept the taboo on beauty. So he came up with a method of image-making that referenced Manet as well as Donald Judd, Cézanne as well as Dan Flavin, and revolutionised late 20th-century art photography.
December 21st, 2007 — Uncategorized
December 20th, 2007 — Uncategorized
Love, More Love is the annual Mercer Union members exhibition..
..where all works are sold for $100 on a first-come first-served basis.
The show features photographs, paintings, drawings, bookworks, multiples and sculptural works. Participating artists include:
Dean Baldwin, Christine Baigent, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Diane Borsato, Krista Buecking, Corinne Carlson, Trudie Cheng, Taku Dazai, Michel de Broin, Janis Demkiw, Dave Dyment, Kenneth Goldsmith, Anitra Hamilton, Kristan Horton, Tracey Horvath, Beth Howe, Patrick Howlett, Jen Hutton, Instant Coffee, Kelly Jazvac, Kristiina Lahde, Corwyn Lund, Arnaud Maggs, Michael Maranda, Kelly Mark, John Massey, Stephen McLeod, Olia Mishchenko, Janet Morton, Suzanne Nacha, John O’Regan, Roula Parthniou, Kerri Reid, Kevin Rodgers, Kalina Rutledge, Jon Sasaki, Chris Shepherd, Allison Smith, Derek Sullivan, Zin Taylor, Christy Thompson, Carolyn Tripp, Rob Waters, Stephen Wicks, and many more.
For details on how the sale functions please visit the Mercer Union blog
HERE
December 5th, 2007 — Uncategorized
Norval Morrisseau,The Offering, acrylic on satin, 1976. Image: coastline-publishing.com
Aboriginal artist Norval Morrisseau has died. The only First Nations artist to have had a solo show at the National Gallery of Canada, (in 2006) in 1978 he was appointed to the Order of Canada.
Norval Morrisseau, Shaman’s Ride. Image: thebucketshop.com
Norval Morrisseau, Copper Thunderbird: Merman Ruler of Water. Courtesy National Gallery of Canada.
Image: cbc.ca
Norval Morrisseau, Double Headed Snake, 1974. Image: bau-xi.com
57 x 68 in.
For more on Norval Morrisseau, please click HERE
For more information on Shamanism, please click HERE
November 30th, 2007 — Uncategorized
Every *SECOND FRIDAY* VoCA will introduce our ‘TOP FIVE’ – five Canadian artists whose exceptionally well-made, well-conceived and original work we’ve recently featured, and recommend to art collectors.
In honour of Magenta Publishing announcing the list of painters who will be featured in their next tome, VoCA chooses five of our favorite Canadian painters:
-Jessica Stockholder – Click HERE
-Elizabeth Mcintosh – Click HERE
-Ben Reeves – Click HERE
-Monica Tap – Click HERE
-Etienne Zack – Click HERE
Read the full list HERE.
November 26th, 2007 — Uncategorized
Governor General Award winners Gathie Falk (2003) and Aganetha Dyck (2007) at the Michael Gibson Gallery
November 30 – December 29, 2007
Aganetha Dyck, work from the honeyflow season, 2007. Image: members.shaw.ca/aganetha
Gathie Falk, 30 Grapefruit. Image: collectionscanada.ca
Perhaps best known for her collaborative work with live honeybees, Dyck’s most recent practice focuses on the Queen Bee, by placing ordinary household objects – figurines, diamond tiaras – in beehives.
Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...Read full bio
