Author: artoronto

Tuesday, February 28, 2012, 10 a.m.
TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX

“Throughout their careers, the 2012 winners of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts have surprised, touched and inspired us,” stated His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General of Canada. “Let us celebrate these Canadian artists whose creativity and talent we can all be proud of.”

“Artists are alchemists, and the 2012 Governor General’s Visual and Media Arts laureates are masters at transforming everyday experience into gold,” said Robert Sirman, Director and CEO of the Canada Council for the Arts. “These awards celebrate artists who have played a key role in shaping the Canada of today, and who continue to have a lasting and positive impact on our culture.”

Robert Sirman, Director and CEO of the Canada Council, presented the awards

Canada Council for the Arts honours eight Canadian greats for the 2012 Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts. They are:

Margaret Dragu, Performance artist, Vancouver/Richmond. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Margaret Dragu, Pillowbook, Lady Justice channeling Mary Magdalene for a projection-performance about AIDS, guilt, and fear, at Bain St-Michel, co-produced by Viva! Art! Action! and International Sex Festivals (ISF), organized by Andre Eric Letourneau and Articule, Montreal 2006. Photo: Guy L’Heureux.

Geoffrey James, Photographer, Toronto. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Geoffrey James, Partial View of the United States-Mexico Border with Otay Mesa, San Diego County, in the Foreground and Mesa de Otay. Tijuana, in the Background, 1997, gelatin silver print, 46.1 x 57.9 cm. Collection of the artist

Charles Lewton-Brain, Artist-goldsmith, Saidye Bronfman Award, Calgary. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Charles Lewton-Brain, Scored disc, 1987, sterling silver, 18k doublee, 9 x 4.5 x 1 cm. Photo courtesy of the artist

Ron Martin, Visual artist, Toronto. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Ron Martin, To Foil Oils, Phase III, 1997,Winsor & Newton oils on canvas, 76.2 x 55.9 cm. Photo: courtesy of Christopher Cutts Gallery

Diana Nemiroff, Art gallery director and curator, Outstanding Contribution, Ottawa. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Diana Nemiroff. Crossings. Ottawa: National Gallery of Canada, 1998.

Jan Peacock, Visual artist – media and installation, Halifax. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Jan Peacock, The Road Rises to Meet You, 1986, installation detail. Photo: Douglas Curran

Royden Rabinowitch, Sculptor, Waterloo. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Royden Rabinowitch, Judgment on the Keplerian Revolution, 1983, steel, three surfaces, each surface: 60 x 300 x 150 cm. Furkapasshöhe, The Swiss Alps

Jana Sterbak, Visual artist, Montréal. Photo: Canada Council for the Arts / Martin Lipman

Jana Sterbak, Acteon at Home, colour photograph, 38 x 25 cm. Photo: ©Jana Sterbak

In addition to a $25,000 prize from the Canada Council, the winners each received a special issue medallion sponsored by the Royal Canadian Mint.

(crocheted found materials)

The Toronto Hyperbolic Crochet Reef is a collective project of endless crochet for the city of Toronto. Inspired by the pioneering work in hyperbolic crochet of Dr. Daina Taimina and the artful modelling projects of the Institute for Figuring in Los Angeles, California, the Toronto Reef is just one in a great confluence of reefs worldwide. The Toronto-based Reef is co-ordinated by and, for the most part, fabricated by Angelune Des Lauriers, Shannon Gerard, Kalpna Patel and Becky Johnson but remains open to coral contributions from anyone in the city.

Piazza del Popolo, oil on cotton. 45 x 42 inches

March 1 – 17, 2012
Opening: Thursday, March 1, 6 – 8 p.m.
BAU-XI GALLERY
340 Dundas St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G5
T: 416.977.0600
E: toronto@bau-xi.com
www.bau-xiphoto.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5:30, Sun 11-5:30

Karen’s work centers on nature and our metaphorical relationship to it. As the Italian critic and curator Valerio Dehò has written, “The intelligence of Karen Yurkovich lies in her use of a language both noble and super-codified, cooling it with a strong and radical concept. In this pause…possibilities open up of a vision that goes beyond the subject and affirms a mature idea of painting as limit, as extreme trace, as human testimony first of all.”

The artist states, “An integral part of my artistic practice concerns the interaction between culture and nature. And while this subject has been dealt with in countless different ways, the relationship with nature is constantly evolving and continues to be one of the fundamental points where culture, both political and material, is defined. My work has a scientific cast to it in its exploration of categories and modes of representation. It is not driven by any particular style but by the specific concept I am researching.”

Karen Yurkovich has a BFA and MFA from the University of Alberta and has spent the last several years dividing her time between Canada and Italy.

She has shown extensively in Canada, the US and Europe, and her interests in Italy have led her to develop joint projects with a biodiversity group called Archeologia Arborea, with whom she appeared in an episode of Recreating Eden for Vision TV. Her work has appeared in numerous catalogues and is held in many private and public collections. She also teaches part-time at Studio Art Centers International in Florence.

Quiet Reminiscence, edition of 7, archival inkjet print mounted on plexiglass, 43 x 43 inches

March 1 – 17, 2012
Opening: Thursday, March 1, 6 – 8 p.m.
BAU-XI PHOTO
324 Dundas St. West
Toronto, Ontario M5T 1G5
T: 416.977.0400
E: info@bau-xiphoto.com
www.bau-xiphoto.com
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5:30, Sun 11-5:30

This exhibition is a collection of images from the artist’s travels abroad in Europe. The delicate, imperfect quality of the black and white Polaroid film used to create most of the images in the series imparts a wistful, nostalgic mood. The artist Geoffrey James has commented on the best photography as having “mnemonic power that no other medium has,” and Jensen-Nagle explores that statement in this series, seeking to capture the feeling of what it’s like to be in the places seen in these images. The results of this photographic exploration are timeless visions of famous scenes that seem to link history with dreams.

Originally from New Jersey, Joshua Jensen-Nagle moved to Toronto to pursue his artistic education at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute in 1999. Since graduating in 2003, Jensen-Nagle has experimented with various image formats, production techniques and materials. Jensen-Nagle has, in the past, used toy cameras, pinhole cameras, and expired Polaroid film.

Jensen-Nagle’s work explores the use of photography as a means to create rather than to document a reality. His work has been collected worldwide and has exhibited in both Canada and the USA.

Sunday, March 4, 2012, 1 – 2 p.m.
TORONTO EXHIBITION PLACE
Queen Elizabeth Building
180 Princes’ Boulevard, Exhibition Place
Toronto, ON
T:416.598.0714
E: members@oaag.org

Blue Soup Seminar: Contemporary Art for the Young Collector (An Introduction)

OAAG is offering a guided tour of The Artist Project to empower young collectors. The tour will introduce the process of collecting art: defining and selecting, researching, and purchasing. A small group of emerging collectors will be led through the show, which features over 200 independent and contemporary artists from a variety of geographic and creative backgrounds. This intimate tour will provide opportunities to engage directly with the artists, learn about collecting and ask questions in an informal gathering.

Amanda Tamul will lead the group. She is the Secretariat Coordinator of the Ontario Association of Art Galleries. With a Bachelor of Fine Arts from OCAD University in Criticism & Curatorial Practice and a Master of Arts from the University of Toronto in Art History, Amanda is also the recipient of numerous awards, including the OCADU Medal of Excellence in 2007. Amanda has several years experience in Toronto galleries and auction houses, including art consultancy and coordinating independent educational workshops and curatorial projects.

This program is part of OAAG’s Blue Soup Series that offers educational programs and networking opportunities for emerging arts professionals.

Registrant price: $15 (includes seminar materials and admission to all show days)

OAAG has partnered with The Artist Project. For more information about The Artist Project visit www.theartistprojecttoronto.com/.

Registration: If you are interested in registering, please fill out and return the Registration Form, which can be found at http://oaag.org/programs/index.html. You may fax it to (416) 598-4128 or email members@oaag.org.

If you have any further questions or comments, please contact Amanda Tamul, Secretariat Coorindator, OAAG Tel: (416)-598-0714, members@oaag.org

March 2 – March 31, 2012
Opening: Friday March 2, 6-9 p.m.
GALLERY 44 CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 120
Toronto, ON M5V 3A8
T: 416.979.3941
E: sojin@gallery44.org
www.gallery44.org

Maria Raponi’s project From Above displays a composite image of the ceilings of the three floors above G44’s vitrines. Multiple views are reduced to a singular perspective, condensing time and space the way a lens condenses light. From Raponi’s perspective, our experiences and our stories become transcribed onto our environments, similar to an unwritten graffiti prevalent in the spaces we occupy.

Maria Raponi is a Toronto-based artist who works across many platforms including film, photography, digital media, installation and sculpture. She is a graduate of the combined MFA program between the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Tufts University, in addition to the BFA program at the School of Image Arts at Ryerson University. Her works have been exhibited in North America, Europe and Asia, and she has worked on site-specific projects presented in Toronto, Montreal and Dortmund (Germany).

Monday, February 27, 2012, 4–6 p.m.
HART HOUSE LIBRARY
(Hart House), University of Toronto
7 Hart House Circle
Toronto, ON M5S 3H3
E: beth.dranoff@utoronto.ca
http://www.harthouse.ca/arts/graphicnovelettes

Presented by the Hart House Literary and Library (Lit & Lib) Committee, Victoria College & Students in the Vic One Norman Jewison Stream for Imagination and the Arts.

Get inspired and experience student interpretations of such classics as Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” in this unique exhibition of socially conscious graphic novelettes by students in the Vic One Norman Jewison Stream for Imagination and the Arts. Graphic novelist and printmaker George Walker will present an artist talk about the history of the wordless graphic novel and his publication, Book of Hours. A compilation of student novelettes, The Book of Norman, will be available as a free, limited-run publication at the event. Monday, February 27, 2012 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Hart House Library at Hart House, University of Toronto. FREE

March 1–17, 2012
Art Party: Thursday, March 8, 7–9 p.m.
WELLINGTON STREET ART GALLERY
270 Wellington Street West, Suite 105
(between John Street & Blue Jays Way)
Toronto, ON
T: 647-352-3463
wellingtonstreetartgallery.ca
Hours: Tues-Fri 12–6 p.m., Sat 12–4 p.m.

WSAG is pleased to present ROSE HIRANO: “Fines Lines & Shadows” from March 1–17. Art Party with artist in attendance to be held on Thursday, March 8, 7–9 p.m. at 270 Wellington Street West, Toronto.

As an established artist, Rose Hirano works almost exclusively in reduction woodcut, a multi-inking process, printing from light to dark values using a single piece of wood. In the artist’s own words: “My works are pages from my visual journal—a log of my ideas and points of view using images instead of words. Searching for balance and personal peace draws me to the simplicity of abstracted images using a muted palette. I am drawn to bare trees, which are akin to the true nature of people, the way they truly are—unadorned and without pretense. I am equally intrigued by reflections, which impart essentially what appears to be—on the surface—leaving what lies below an intriguing source of wonderment.”

Interview with Janna Watson (J.W.)
by artoronto.ca (Emese Krunak-Hajagos, E.K-H.)

E.K-H: Your show of paintings at Bau-Xi Gallery was a success and you are considered a very successful young artists. What kind of emotions are coming up for you at this significant moment in your early career as an artist?

J.W: There are many emotions coming up for me at this time.

there are satisfied emotions
unsatisfied emotions
there are many emotions.
(always).

E.K-H: Please tell us something about the process of working on a series of paintings. Do you focus on one painting until it’s finished, or work on a number of paintings concurrently as you develop a body of work? Do you have a vision of the end result of the painting at the outset, or does it emerge primarily through the experience of making the work?

J.W: You are correct that it emerges through the experience of making the work.  My process is completely intuitive and therefore is coming directly from my body.  I never have a vision of the end result (although I trust my foresight).  In this process my paintings may seem extroverted and gregarious and loud with colour, but the truth is that they are about interiority and the creative disclosure of being from inside out.  I am usually working on two or three paintings at the same time.  A lot of the process is about allowing myself to experience a work and then leave it—maybe for a few hours or maybe for a few days. Coming back to the work over again for a few times allows me to see it with “new eyes.”  Sometimes I feel so “inside” the work that I can’t see it at all.  It is as though I am standing an inch in front of a mirror.  That is why space is important.  Always.  To see anything—but especially for painting.

E.K-H: What are some specific aspects of visual culture that influence your works?

J.W: Negative space is very important to my work.  Sometimes it is what I do not see that helps me to see. My point is that I am not influenced by visual culture. I am always slightly insulted when people tell me that my work reminds them of someone (or something) else’s (even though it’s usually meant to flatter or compliment). I am not interested in mimicking or exploiting someone else’s genius.  I stare at blank walls, explore outer space in my mind, walk through nature, take my glasses off and walk blindly through streets.  If I feel like painting after an activity that involves emptying my mind, it is usually for the best.

After Pulling My Heart Out Of TheGutter 1, 2011

E.K-H: In your life outside of your studio, where do you notice colour and light that inspires the colour and luminescence you create in your work?

J.W: In my friend’s eyes.  In my cat’s eyes.  In random strangers’ eyes (if I happen to feel extroverted enough to make eye contact).  Also sunsets.

E.K-H: When we talk about abstract painting we always go back to the Abstract Expressionists and their emotional approach. Have there been any significant artists working in this tradition who have influenced your work?

J.W: The philosophies of abstract expressionism really resonate with me.  I believe in the spirituality of form and colour beyond anything else in painting.  It is obvious upon first glance of a painting if someone is vibrating with their painting—generally if an artist has vibrated with their work—their (sensitive?) viewer will do the same.  Rothko was genius and sensitive enough to articulate his process.  I would also have to mention Kandinsky and one of my all time favourite expressionists, Cy Twombly.  I love his whimsical obsession with mark making and childlike gestures.  I find his rawness absolutely sophisticated.

Asking To Be Childlike Again, 2011

E.K-H:  What excites you about the experience of paintings that is missing from other forms of art-making?

J.W: Painting is about the body.  It’s sexuality and spirituality made tangible—a good painting does not come from the brain.  It is about alchemy.  It is the most transformative form of art-making.    
 
E.K-H: What are your plans? Do you have any exhibitions lining up for you?

J.W: I just got a new studio (March 1st) at 401 Richmond.  This is good because my studio has been in my home and I really feel it’s time to create more negative space between my living space and my working space.  I’m looking forward to the “walk” to the studio.  Bau-Xi is always lining up exhibitions for me.  I want an exhibition in China.  I don’t know.  I never know what is next.

Soul Is The Place, 2011

E.K-H: I love your titles.  Where do they come from?

J.W: I want my titles to be another entry into the work.  I find it so boring when artists are not thoughtful about titling their work.  It’s like naming a book—or is like putting a lyric to a musical composition.  It may (or may not) make any more sense, but it at least leads your imagination down a certain road.

Tara Cooper, Clear as a Bell, screen print, 2012

March 3 – 25, 2012
Opening: Saturday, March 3, 2–5 p.m.
Q&A Section: Sunday, March 25, 3 p.m.
LOOP GALLERY
1273 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON, M6J 1X8
T: 416.516.2581
E: loopgallery.patricia@gmail.com
http://loopgallery.blogspot.com
www.loopgallery.ca
Hours: Wed–Sat 12–5 p.m., Sun 1–4 p.m.

With forecasts we’re told to heed warnings—hope for the best, but prepare for the worst. Tara Cooper’s Weather Wise assembles a compendium of weather lore and superstitions from cloud nines to fair weather friends to silver linings. It is the next chapter in her ongoing series/alter ego Weather Girl, a project that mixes an amateur’s enthusiasm for meteorology with found objects, video and print.

Beneath the rubric of Canadian Nature, Cooper’s observations combine fieldwork and footwork moving from the amateur ornithologist, to the idea of north, to her most recent study involving the language of weather—the statistical forecast versus the personal encounter. Cooper received her Master of Fine Arts from Cornell University in 2008, specializing in the disciplines of print, film and installation. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Waterloo.

Please join the artist in celebrating the opening reception on Saturday, March 3rd from 2-5 p.m. Learn more Tara Cooper’s work during a Question & Answer Session at loop on Sunday, March 25th, 2 p.m.

March 3 – 25, 2012
Opening: Saturday, March 3, 2-5 p.m.
Q&A Section: Sunday, March 25, 3 p.m.
LOOP GALLERY
1273 Dundas Street West
Toronto, ON, M6J 1X8
T: 416.516.2581
E-mail:loopgallery.patricia@gmail.com
http://loopgallery.blogspot.com
www.loopgallery.ca
Hours: Wed–Sat 12–5 p.m., Sun 1–4 p.m.
Q&A Session, moderated by Rebecca Diederichs: Sunday, March 25, 2012, 3 p.m.

loop Gallery is pleased to announce exhibitions by loop member Yael Brotman entitled Shipping and Receiving. Shipping and Receiving showcases the continuation of a body of work in which Brotman explores the reconstruction, from memory, of houses that she inhabited in two countries. In these new works, the permanence of a house has given way to the transitory nature of the impermanent home. The model-sized caravans and trailers constructed by Brotman are based on those her family rented to travel long distances across Canada, completing the summer migration from cities to provincial and national parks that is a quintessential Canadian experience.

Most recently Brotman has exhibited at Monash University, Melbourne, AUS, Purdue University, University of Minnesota, and University of Colorado at Boulder. Forthcoming exhibitions include Zweigstelle Berlin, the German Consulate in Toronto, The Rooms in St. John’s and the Printmaking Biennial of Douro in Alijo, Portugal. She has been invited to undertake an artist residency at the Áras Éanna Art Centre, Aran Islands, Ireland this summer.

Stephen Andrews  “X-men at Union”  2012  water colour pencil on Mylar  24 x 36 inches

March 2 – 31, 2012
Opening: Friday, March 2, 7-10 pm
Paul Petro Contemporary Art
980 Queen St West
Toronto, ON   M6J 1H1
Tel: 416-979-7874
info@paulpetro.com
www.paulpetro.com
Hours: Wed – Sat: 11–5

PPCA is pleased to present  X , an exhibition of new paintings and drawings on Mylar by Stephen Andrews that explore the implications of crossroads and intersections, from the molecular to the celestial.

Using images sourced from newspapers, television, film and the internet, Stephen Andrews’ creates hand crafted works in a range of mediums, including oil, latex, crayon, silkscreen and linoleum-cut printing, rubber stamps, and animation. A distinctive feature of Andrews’ art is his interest in creating the look of mechanical reproduction by analogue means. The artist has stated that in his work he renders: “the digital, the dot matrix in print reproduction, film or television technologies…by hand in an attempt to represent both the message and the means by which it is delivered.” While Andrews’ output prior to 1996 tends to be in black and white or monochrome,around this time he introduces colour into his work. The Weather Series (1996) begins the artists’ extended investigation into the processes of colour generation and the four-colour separation printing processes.For Andrews, weather provides an analogy for the quickly changing circumstances of life, likening it to his own experience of living with HIV.The Quick and the Dead (2004), feature stills derived from video footage of the Iraq war. By drawing the viewer’s eye back to the surface of the work, he creates ambiguities of meaning.Considered in relation to the source material Andrews uses, the work has political implications, “suggesting the impossibility of knowing the circumstances and contexts of what they depict.”

Also, the new Trump Hotel in Toronto opens with an art commission by Stephen Andrews that can be seen at street level (Bay and Adelaide Sts.).  Here is a quote and a link to a Globe and Mail article on the new tower: “The show stopper, though, is the massive mosaic of 500,000 small porcelain, glass, stone and gold tiles that together create a scene that is quintessentially Toronto: people of all different heritages gathered together, easily visible to passersby.”