Over the past few years, I’ve often mentioned, and championed, regional art galleries in Ontario and Canada.

Artist Luke Painter and one of his works. Image: blogto.com

CAFKA (Contemporary Art Forum, Kitchener and Area) is a regional not-for-profit arts organization whose mission it is to “present innovative art within a public space.” It has evolved from a small, regional festival in 1996 to an organization that offers year-round programming, featuring international and national artists.

Continue reading →

There’s a lot of movement in the Canadian art scene, with galleries opening (and closing) regularly in Toronto alone, so here are three from across Canada that I think are worth a visit.

One of Nicholas Galanin’s book sculptures. Image: nippertown.com

1. In Vancouver, Trench Gallery has recently opened – in the former Helen Pitt Gallery space – with a small, eclectic roster of artists: Jen Aitken, Nicholas Galanin, Dougal Graham (whose work I remember from Artcore in the early 2000s), Amy Mukai, Sara Robichaud, the late Vancouver painter Ron Stonier, Carrie Walker and Max Wyse.

Continue reading →

I went out to Oakville for the opening of Un-home-ly, director Matthew Hyland’s first major exhibition with the gallery.

Paulette Phillips, Homewrecker, 2004. All images: VoCA

I am told that Matthew’s background is in feminist studies, so it seems fitting that his curatorial career at the gallery should begin with a show of feminist work. The show is the first in a series of exhibitions about contemporary feminist art, the next to be in 2012, which will explore feminist gestures towards utopia.

Jin-me Yoon, Intersection6, 2010.

Jin-me Yoon, Intersection6, 2010.

Continue reading →

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.

Some thoughts on the role of women in the visual arts: American artist Barbara Kruger makes the cover of W magazine’s Art issue, via the famous-for-nothing Kim Kardashian. The opening line of the article goes like this: “Kim Kardashian can’t sing, act, or dance, but she’s found the role of a lifetime in the fine art of playing herself.”

Image: highsnobiety.com

Meanwhile, a new feminist art documentary is about to come out this fall. It’s called !Women Art Revolution, and it’s by artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson. Watch the trailer HERE.

Continue reading →

I’m not going to Nuit Blanche this year – shocking, I know.

But as we were walking along Bloor street tonight (home from the awkwardly installed exhibition of excellent works by African artist El Anatsui at the ROM) we were enveloped with the sound of a beautiful song, ‘Smile’ written by Charlie Chaplin for Modern Times, emanating from enormous speakers.

Continue reading →

I spoke with Lethbridge artist David Hoffos a few days ago on the eve of his excellent, magical exhibition Scenes from a House Dream, a long term, five-phase series of illusionary installation works that premiered in 2008 in Lethbridge, Alberta at The Southern Alberta Art Gallery, before going to the National Gallery in Ottawa (where I saw it.) The show is now at MOCCA in Toronto and will soon head to Calgary’s Illingworth Kerr Gallery. The touring exhibition is curated by Shirley Madill and circulated by Rodman Hall Art Centre.

Scenes from Scenes From The House Deam, Phase Two: Airport Hotel. Image: seemagazine.com

Scenes from a House Dream
Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art (MOCCA)
Toronto
September 10 – 31 December, 2010

Another still from Scenes from a House Dream. Image: Viewoncanadianart.com

Continue reading →

The Toronto International Film Festival opens on September 9 and goes until the 19th.

An image by artist Douglas Gordon. Image: ursusbooks.com

This year, the buzz is bigger than ever, with TIFF’s new building downtown that is sure revitalize King Street near John. The small, old-Toronto style strip of buildings opposite, which house mostly touristy restaurants, have become TIFF’s poor cousins. Probably not long before they’re demolished.

In any case, this year’s Future Projections program, which sees film-based installations in galleries throughout the city, has a stellar lineup of international names, including Douglas Gordon, Michael Nyman and Stan Douglas.

Continue reading →

So we went to New York for five days last weekend. It was the usual late August hot, humid weather but we had two amazing art experiences that made it all entirely worthwhile.

1. Big Bambu on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum.

Doug and Mike Starn’s 40-foot high bamboo structure exemplifies what I always say about artists that do design-y type installations. It’s important to go big. The installation should always overwhelm the viewer so that the viewer feels the effect of the artwork. And that may mean that the artist needs to work for days, months on the project to get it large enough. A lot of young installation artists should heed this advice, I think.

Continue reading →

I’m working on a video exhibition with the public art organization No. 9 Contemporary Art & the Environment. It’s called Four Directions, and its opening will coincide with the opening of Evergreen at the Brickworks, Toronto.

SUNDAY September 26, 2010 – December 31, 2010

The exhibition is designed to reflect the mandate of the public art organization No. 9: that contemporary art can stimulate positive social and environmental change. The group video exhibition features four powerful environmentally themed video artworks, each screened inside one of four restored drying kilns (long tunnels). The kilns are located at the North end of the Heritage Brick Factory, Building 16, which is a 52,000 square foot space, the largest building on-site.

A still from Lessons of Darkness. Image: uashome.alaska.edu

The works to be screened are Lessons of Darkness by the legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog and three Canadian artists:

L’Or blanc/White Gold, a No. 9 commission by Isabelle Hayeur
The Cyanide Flats: 50?54´15´´N / 95?20´20´´W, a No. 9 commission by Val Klassen
Waterspeak by Dana Claxton

The exhibition’s goal is to acknowledge manmade environmental destruction and to offer alternative ways of thinking about a healthy earth that suggest re-growth and healing. The exhibition will present a journey for the viewer from Herzog’s bleak documentation of Kuwait’s burning oil fields to Isabelle Hayeur’s curtain of softly falling salt crystals, followed by Val Klassen’s still signs of hope within a ravaged landscape, to Dana Claxton’s mesmerizing plea on behalf of water.

Without being overly didactic or preachy, together the three works will provide a response to Herzog’s Lessons of Darkness. As the viewer progresses through each tunnel, he/she will witness environmental devastation, followed by works that engage the emotions to suggest mindfulness, respect and honour for our environment.

Check out No. 9 Contemporary Art & the Environment, HERE.