The DHC Art Foundation in Montreal is small, and wonderful. The exhibitions that I’ve seen there have been beautifully installed and it’s a lovely experience to see so few works at a time, curated as they are across four intimate floors and into a nearby space. Thomas Demand is well known in Europe as the photographer who meticulously recreates images
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I came across the work of artist Julie Gladstone when I was perusing the aisles of the Artist Project for potential artists to showcase on Artbomb. Artist Julie Gladstone. All images: VoCA I immediately liked the unconventional colour in her work, lots of pale minty colours jolted alive with fluorescent spray paint and then brought together with strips of striped
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I sat down with legendary performance artist Marina Abramovic who was in Toronto this week for the Canadian premiere of The Artist Is Present, a documentary on her work, which screens at the Reel Artists Film Festival this Sunday. Click HERE for tickets. She is also setting up an institute for the preservation of performance art, in Hudson, New York.
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The other day, I visited artist Paulette Phillips at her home in Toronto, to be interviewed for her upcoming artwork. Called The Directed Lie, it involved being put to the test – the lie detector test. Me with Paulette Phillips, undergoing the polygraph. All images: Scott Barker/VoCA Phillips has trained as a professional polygraph technician in the United States, and
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The other week I dropped in to see one of my new favorite galleries, General Hardware Contemporary, in Parkdale. Not only was owner Niki Dracos super friendly, happily accompanying me in my rush around the gallery (I was late for a talk at Art Toronto) but I was really impressed by the work. Paintings by Anahita Rezvani-Rad. All images: VoCA
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I stopped by the studio of young painter Rob Davidovitz the other afternoon. Rob doesn’t paint in the traditional sense, though. Instead he uses paint to create these textile/painting hybrids. A woven painting by Rob Davidovitz. All images: VoCA He mixes paint colours in a kind of pastry tube (more on that below) and squeezes it out in long lines,
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Did you know that UK-based Canadian author Sarah Thornton successfully sued a critic from the Daily Telegraph for a “spiteful” review of her book Seven Days in the Art World? Author Sarah Thornton, and her book. Image: inforrm.com I haven’t read the book, though I know many who have and who thoroughly enjoyed it. Her lawsuit resulted in Thornton winning
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Cindy Sherman, the American artist known for her Untitled Film Stills, 1977–1980 and subsequent self-portraits in which she transforms herself, through hair, makeup, prosthetics and costume, into various female characters from the seductive to the grotesque, is all about disguise. Cindy Sherman for MAC Cosmetics. Image: heartymagazine.com She’s been working this way for decades and is one of America’s best-known
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Although I don’t blog about public art in Toronto, since it could create a conflict with my position on the City of Toronto Public Art Commission, that doesn’t stop me from blogging about public art elsewhere. The entrance to the new Sofitel Hotel in Vienna. Image: VoCA/Scott Barker I was in Vienna, Austria recently and saw the most fantastic use
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It’s better late than never for some highlights from this year’s Venice Biennale. Flying into Venice. All photos: VoCA Having been to several Venice Biennales in my life, I almost always prefer the pavilions where the artist addresses the architecture of the pavilions in which the art is housed. The first Biennale was held in 1895 and there are only
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Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...