View on Canadian Art

In the midst of promoting the Canadian Art Reel Artists Film Festival, which opens this Wednesday night, Feb 24th with a big gala screening and then to the public from Friday Feb 26th to Sunday 28th in Toronto, there are three under-the-radar highlights that you should know about:

A wallhanging by El Anatsui at the Venice Biennale. Image: artradarasia.com

1. Fold, Crumple, Crush: The Art of El Anatsui is the world premiere of a film on the amazing African artist whose wondrous metal wallhangings took the Venice biennale by storm several years ago. He will also have the world premiere of a retrospective of his work at the ROM in Toronto coming up later this year.

Click HERE for more info on the film.

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From the Toronto Star, Murray Whyte writes about the bicycle art of the late, great artist Greg Curnoe:

“On the wall at Cherry Bomb Coffee on Roncesvalles Ave., a slight, royal-blue CCM track bike with curled handlebars dangles from the wall, held at a sharp angle by a slim cable…”

Greg Curnoe, Mariposa T.T., 1978-9. Image: artnet.com

“As an artist, (Curnoe) had achieved a particular kind of celebrity. His work, like his life, was disarmingly vibrant, all filled with bright colour and fuelled by his various passions – cycling, for one, and a cheeky political activism. By the time he died, at age 55, he had carved a uniquely prominent position for himself in Canadian art...”

One of Curnoe’s bikes, at Cherry Bomb, in Roncesvalles, Toronto. Image: rene johnston/torontostar.com

Read the full article HERE.

It’s frustrating that the powers that be in Toronto seem to have such little interest in placing value on arts and culture.

A billboard by the Economist. The light is triggered by a motion sensor. Image: objectivemarketer.com

Sure, we’ve got Nuit Blanche and the amazing Luminato festival, both of which are truly wonderful, but when it comes to an innovative 8-year-long project by the arts community to get billboard taxes put towards beautifying the city, which we blogged about HERE, the city says no go.

And yet:

-According to Spacing magazine, every member of the Budget Committee expressed their support for a billboard tax that would fund art and public realm enhancements.

-Apparently, The new tax was justified in staff and consultant reports, public consultations, city press releases, over 45 times in Council and through a wide variety of media outlets.

-Over 4500 people have signed a petition of support and over 60 organizations have endorsed BeautifulCity.ca

-What’s more, a McKinsey and Co. study in 2006 found that “for every 1 dollar of public arts funding in a regional economy, 8 are generated.”

And yet, we hear that it was recently recommended at Council that zero new money now go to enhancing public spaces with art.

(This recent action suggests that) “They have no faith in the future of Toronto’s creative youth,” says No. 9 founder Andrew Davies, whose public art organization endorses Beautifulcity.ca.

It would have been an opportunity to look to the city’s future, to create vibrant public spaces that enhance property values, boost tourism, give something visible back to residents and will help build the city for the long-term.

What a shame.

Here are some photos take this past weekend in Edmonton by friend-of-VoCA, Qasim Virjee of Design Guru. For info on the gallery, including The Murder of Crows by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller as well as Francisco Goya’s infamous print suites: Los Caprichos (1799) and The Disasters of War (1810-1820), which traveled from the National Gallery of Canada, please click HERE.

And for more on the gallery architecture, by Randall Stout Architects, please click HERE.

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In Vancouver and want to see something other than the Games?

World Tea Party, by Bryan Mulvihill. Image: bright-light.ca

You would undoubtedly be in the minority,  but you would have a lot to choose from. Bright Light is an interesting-sounding initiative between the City of Vancouver and a number of arts organizations in the Downtown East Side.

Projects range from site-specific artworks, light-based installations, video projections and live web links to outdoor performances, publications, a parade, a festival, interactive community events and lively gathering spaces.

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This weekend, VoCA paid a visit to the studio of Toronto artist Dennis Lin.

The installation, no. 1 – 60, currently on view at 47 Gallery. Image: forty-seven.ca/Derek Flack

Another view of no. 1 – 60, Image: VoCA

Lin, who works mostly with wood, creates huge installations, many commissioned by the likes of design firm Yabu Pushelberg for their hotel and condo interiors around the world. He is just back from installing a piece in Quebec City, and another in China.

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Some excerpts from a fantastic article on Alexander McQueen:

Image: stylefrizz.com

“…anyone who cares about the culture at large — should take note of the death of Alexander McQueen. For every 1,000 so-called designers who pin a piece of jersey around a mannequin and call it fashion, there’s only one McQueen, an explosively imaginative designer…”

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Toronto artist Micah Lexier is everywhere these days.

A view of Micah Lexier’s installation I Am the Coin, at BMO in Toronto.  Image: iamthecoin.com

Not only did he have new work in a recent show at his Toronto dealer, Birch Libralato, he has a just-opened year-long installation at the Bank of Montreal’s Project Room titled I am the Coin – click HERE to check it out – along with several upcoming collaborations.

-Twelve of One: A Series of Twelve Consecutive Vitrine Displays is on view at Art Metropole, and will change each month over the course of one year. Click HERE for more info.

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There’s recently been a brou-ha-ha brewing in Ottawa, over the decision by Marc Mayer, director of the National Gallery, to put a sculpture by the 43-year-old New York artist Roxy Paine on Nepean Point, the area nearby to the National Gallery.

A sculpture by Roxy Paine. Image: linka-me.com

Nepean Point is, more precisely, a hill in Ottawa overlooking the Ottawa River, Parliament, the Museum of Civilization, and other features of downtown Ottawa and Gatineau. It is located between the National Gallery of Canada and Alexandra Bridge.

At the peak of the hill is a statue of French explorer Samuel de Champlain holding his famous astrolabe upsidedown. And the proposed sculpture, Called One Hundred Foot Line, evokes a tree without branches.

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Speaking of Americans (see below), we just came across this very cool project in Detroit.

The Ice House Detroit. Image: Greg Holm/dwell.com

A collaboration between photographer Greg Holm and architect Matthew Radune, the Ice House Detroit is just what it seems to be. A completely frozen house.

Read more about the project on their blog, HERE

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