The Work Ahead of Us The Québec Triennial 2011 at the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal 7 October 2011 – 3 January 2012 This review is by Kingston, Ontario-based VoCA contributor Catherine Toews. Claudie Gagnon, Tableaux (To Beauty) (video still), 2011. Vidéogramme, son, environ 20 min. Collection de l’artiste. Image: macm.org I had the good fortune of visiting and writing
Read more…
Well it’s that time of year again. The long list for Canada’s major annual art prize, the Sobey Art Award has been announced. Zeke Moores, Axes, 2009. Image: zekemoores.com It’s true that many of Canada’s fine young artists remain hidden from media attention or public view in other parts of the country. So I look forward to the Sobey longlist
Read more…
Here are some things I suggest checking out, if you can. Montreal art duo Maryse Larivière and Robin Simpson of Pavilion Projects regularly host art-plus-dinner series, and in a few weeks they will bring the series to Toronto with a screening by the artist Rosa Barba‘s 2007 film Outwardly from Earth’s Centre. Rosa Barba, a still from Outwardly from Earth’s
Read more…
[Un]Limited Colors: Recent Work by Matthew Biederman Centre de Design de l’UQAM, Montreal November 12 – December 13, 2009 Matthew Biederman, Color Deforming a Cone. 2008. Custom software, HD projector, computer, painted extruded aluminum. Image: art45.ca Some of VoCA’s favorite Canadian artists work in new media: David Rokeby, Rafael Lozanno-Hemmer, David Hoffos, Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak, Janet Cardiff and
Read more…
In The Trees: Works from the Battat Collection Battat Contemporary, Montreal July 2 – August 15, 2009 Ed Pien, Night Gathering, 2005. All images courtesy Battat Contemporary. Montreal’s newest collector-led art space, Battat Contemporary, run by the collector Joe Battat, opened in March 2009 and has quickly made a name for itself by mixing Battat’s interest in Old Master drawings
Read more…
VoCA went to Montreal and by far the best thing we saw was Michal Rovner’s wonderful installation Particles of Reality, her first solo exhibition in Canada, at DHC Art Foundation. The exhibition, which opened in May and runs through September 27, begins with the same video works projected onto Petri dishes that the artist showed at the 2005 Venice biennale’s
Read more…
Thomas Kneubühler, installation view: ‘Brise Soleil’ éclairant ‘Mount Hortons’ & ‘The Mountain (Switch)’, “Electric #1″, 2009 and “Electric #3″ , 2009. Image: projex-mtl.com
Paulette Gagnon, chief curator of the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, has been given the top job at the gallery. Paulette Gagnon. Image: newswire.ca She will replace Mark Mayer, who left last year for the bigger top job at the National Gallery of Canada. Paulette Gagnon is the 9th director general of the museum, and the third woman to occupy
Read more…
Confluences: Rencontre entre Montreal et le Bas-Saint-Laurent June 14 – 13 September, 2009 Musee Regionale de Rimouski Should you find yourself in Quebec this summer, this exhibition seeks to bring together a rencontre between Montreal and the lower St. Lawrence. The show looks promising! Guillaume Lachapelle, Manege 16, 2004-06. Image: guillaumelachapelle.com Featuring work by 13 artists (who you may not
Read more…
Kalup Linzy: Recessed Depressed… Child Just Tell Me… May 8 – June 13, 2009 Parisian Laundry Kalup Linzy. Image: artnews.org One of the hottest names in video art, Linzy’s best known work is a series of video art pieces satirizing the tone and narrative approach of television soap opera. Linzy performs most of the characters himself, and was once described
Read more…
Andrea Carson writes on contemporary art, architecture and design...