View on Canadian Art

At this point, everything Mr. Hirst does is worth taking note of by art world observers.

Damien Hirst, the ultimate Art Star. Image: artdaily.com

His latest endeavors, from the Pharmacy bar/restaurant in London’s Notting Hill that closed with an auction of its contents to his now infamous diamond-studded skull that he, along with a group of investors purchased from his own gallery for 75 million Euros, have shocked the art world by aggressively pushing at its limits.

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There’s a great article in Art + Auction on the fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld and his newly launched Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion, a traveling contemporary-art show that he conceived as a 50th-anniversary tribute to the Chanel handbag and whose exhibition space he commissioned the Pritzker Prize–winning architect Zaha Hadid to design.

The Chanel Mobile Art Pavilion, designed by Zaha Hadid. Image: architecturelist.com

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Check out the short videos that we produced for the Canadian Art Foundation:

Just click right HERE.

Woman with the Devil, Drawing by Annie Pootoogook.
Image: sitemedia.ca/Feheley Fine Arts

• Dealer Wil Kucey of Le Gallery talks about his hot young artists and his prescient interest in illustrative, grafitti and street art

• Dealer Pat Feheley discusses the new Inuit art. It’s not soapstone sculptures of bears anymore, since Annie Pootoogook’s drawings were included in the last Documenta in Kassel, Germany.

• Artist Kim Dorland welcomes us into his studio as he talks about his influences, his recent work and how he hopes the viewer responds to his paintings.

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The OLD Canadian twenty dollar bill. Image: members.shaw.ca

Did you know that if you look at the NEW Canadian twenty dollar bill - you’ll need a magnifying glass - you will read the following quote by French-Canadian author Gabrielle Roy (1908 - 1983):

Could we ever know each other in the slightest without the arts?

Nous connaitrions-nous seulement un peu nous-memes, sans les arts?

At last night’s jam-packed town hall meeting, organized in response to the Stephen Harper’s Conservative government’s recent slashing of $62.06 million in Arts and Culture programs, there were several passionate speeches by Claire Hopkinson of the Toronto Arts Council, Susan Swan of the Writer’s Union and Lisa Fitzgibbons of the Documentary Organization of Canada, rising to a crescendo with a polished, fervent speech by writer and activist Naomi Klein.

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We read, in the Art Newspaper (right HERE), that the Richard Prince works currently on view at London’s public Serpentine Gallery are for sale.

Richard Prince, “Untitled,” 1983. Image: zine.artcal.net

According to the article, this raises “questions about the relationship between publicly-funded galleries and their sponsors.”

Actually, since the Serpentine is not involved in any sales from the show, it raises more relevant questions about the power of commercial dealers in today’s art world. Naturally it behooves both dealers if their clients are able to purchase works complete with lofty provenance - that is, the Serpentine’s seal of approval.

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…and well they should!

Nova Scotia Premier Rodney MacDonald says that recent cuts in federal funding for the arts will damage the province’s cultural sector.

In a letter to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the premier said the province has worked tirelessly with its provincial and federal counterparts over the years to emphasize the economic and social benefits of arts and culture.

“I sincerely hope that these cuts do not represent the level of importance that the government of Canada places on the value of this sector to the Canadian economy, to our provincial and our Canadian identity,” said MacDonald.

Read the rest of the article from the Chronicle Herald HERE

Matthias Arndt and Tiffany Wood in their Berlin apartment. Image: artinfo.com

This article about art dealers who collect design (is there anyone who doesn’t, anymore?) may leave you with a case of the too-coolies. Check out the article at ArtInfo HERE.

VoCA thinks it’s time for a little (non-ironic) bad taste.

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VoCA gives you the heads up on three major exhibitions coming to Canada this fall…

1. WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution

Vancouver Art Gallery

October 4, 2008 - January 11, 2009

The exhibition catalogue cover. Image: moca.org

VoCA loves ‘feminist’ (female, women’s) art. This comprehensive exhibition is not to be missed! You’ll see work by VoCA favorites Chantal Akerman, Lynda Benglis, Valie Export, Ana Mendieta, Annette Messager, Louise Bourgeois, Judy Chicago and Yoko Ono, among many others.

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Toronto writer Don Thompson’s book The $12 Million Stuffed Shark: The Curious Economics of Contemporary Art subjects today’s global art world to an economic analysis.

Image: akademika.no

Thompson, an economist and professor of business who regularly lectures on art, attempts to de-mystify the value of contemporary art - why such exorbitant prices (nearing $150 million) are paid for works which are, ostensibly, nothing more than paint on canvas, dead animals, unmade beds and other flights of artistic fancy…

Click on the thumbnail to read my review in Quill & Quire:

Buy the book - in our opinion a must-read - right HERE.

Illustration: Allen Crawford of Plankton Art Co. Image: timeout.com

A new report - done in collaboration with the federal government - argues for the importance of Canada’s arts:

Canada’s arts community has been given a big boost in its fight against government funding cutbacks in a form of an new economic report arguing that culture is a major contributor to national wealth and prestige.

The 60-page study from the Conference Board of Canada, a private-sector think-tank that did the study in collaboration with the federal government, argues that culture generated $84.6 billion in direct and indirect economic benefits last year, or 7.4 per cent of total gross domestic product.

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