Author: artoronto

Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival is in full force throughout Toronto as several of the exhibitions opened last week to kick off the event. The Ryerson Image Centre was buzzing on May 4th as each of the galleries within are hosting a show as part of CONTACT; Annie MacDonell being one of the exhibiting artists. 

Winner of Scotiabank Photography Award, 2015, Angela Grauerholz, who has a major exhibition in Ryerson Image Centre (fourth from left), artist Locrin Stewart (in the middle) and Annie McDonell (right of Stewart) at the Opening Reception, May 4, 2016. Photo: Emily Newell

In the University Gallery and on the Salah J. Bachir New Media Wall Annie MacDonell’s show, titled, Holding Still // Holding Together is a marvel. In partnership with choreographer, Ame Henderson, the photographs are comprised of six contemporary dancers performing on the topic of the power struggle between the police and protesters. MacDonell has gathered images of passive resistance from the RIC’s Black Star Collection. Then she analyzed and dissected the actions they depicted in order to recreate them in performance and video, filmed in long, static shots.

MacDonell wrote in her “Notes for Performers” that the purpose of the characters in her work “is not to memorialize them [but] is to hijack and rewrite the power relations they describe”. The artist used the beautiful setting of the historical President’s office at Ryerson University to rethink those power dynamics. She has removed all elements of the original setting: such as buildings, streets, the crowd looking at the actions – and focused only on the bodies themselves and the positions in which they take form. The dramatic meaning of the photographs are juxtaposed with the way of the dancers’ performance, with their peacefully and elegantly intertwining bodies.

Annie MacDonell, Holding Still // Holding Together, (video still), 2016. Multi-channel installation. © Annie MacDonell. Courtesy of the artist

Annie MacDonell, Holding Still // Holding Together, (video still), 2016. Multi-channel installation. Photo: Emily Newell

Through this method MacDonell examines how – even in these trying situations – people hold to their families, friends and loved-ones. Taking the time to watch these bodies move is incredible. It is challenging to think of where these, sometimes violent, images came from.

Annie MacDonell, Holding Still // Holding Together, (video still), 2016. Multi-channel installation. Photo: Emily Newell

Moving from a screen, where the dancers are configured, to a slideshow of images – we confronted by an intense and extremely topical discussion about power. All the images depict passive political resistance when protesters express opposition by using their own bodies to block further actions while police officers hold and forcefully move them. MacDonell noted that all the chosen images depict “instances in which peaceful refusal of protesters was met with fair compliance by authorities…they are, by and large, peaceful images.” 

Annie MacDonell, Holding Still // Holding Together, (video still), 2016. Multi-channel installation. © Annie MacDonell. Courtesy of the artist

Holding Still // Holding Together raises many questions that are very relevant to the world around us today. If these are the peaceful images, what would the violent ones look like in this medium? How powerful is the act of a peaceful / passive protest? Why certain people “met with fair compliance” from the forces while others receive brutal violence? How does it feel for the people protesting to be lifted or dragged? How does it feel to lift or drag a person? Why do people engage in these political activities? I had never thought about going limp as a form of protest. Faced by MacDonell’s work, it is something I can look at in a whole new light. The still, limp body of a protester is just as powerful in its own right as the tall, stiff, strong bodies of the men holding it. 

Annie MacDonell, Holding Still // Holding Together, (video still), 2016. Multi-channel installation. © Annie MacDonell. Courtesy of the artist

Annie MacDonell, Holding Still // Holding Together, (video still), 2016. Multi-channel installation. Photo: Emily Newell

Annie MacDonell has created an interesting and intelligent conversation about power through performance and photography. Being in the gallery and taking it all in was an incredible experience. It made me think about that there are many people out there who must, either passively or aggressively, fight for what they believe in. On the other side the police force is designed to maintain order and keep peace – but that sensitive line is often crossed by both parties involved.

Annie MacDonell will have an artist talk at the Ryerson Image Centre on May 18th at 6:30 pm – which I would recommend attending and to listen to her thoughts about these powerful images.

Emily Newell

*Exhibition information: May 4 – August 21, 2016, Ryerson Image Centre, 33 Gould Street Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue – Fri, 11 – 6, Wed, 11 – 8, Sat – Sun, 12 – 5 p.m.

Exuberant storyteller Brendan George Ko reminds us of our culture’s apocalyptic convictions, the stereotypical players involved – and in doing so, reveals the naiveté of these fantasies in his exhibition We Soon Be Nigh! at LE Gallery for Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. Drawn to our obsession with the ‘end of the world as we know it’ through Hollywood source materials, Brendan George Ko has been collecting clips from apocalyptic films since the infamously doomed year of 2012 to produce a montage titled “The Apocalypse as a Metaphor Part 1” (2016). Included in the seamlessly edited homage are scenes from “2012, War of the Worlds, Poltergeist, Children of Men, The Day After Tomorrow” and “Dante’s Peak.” Culled from these Hollywood gems are sequences of catalysts, anticipation, failed getaways and final events, defined by natural disasters, extra terrestrial invasions, ghosts, disease and religious rapture. The films chosen do not include Zombies as I expected because Ko has deemed this genre as post-apocalyptic – a theme with enough footage to assemble another montage all its own.

Brendan George Ko, Ground Zero (State of Ambivalence), 2012, c-print, 20” x 24”

From these predictable story-lines, he produced photographs of stereotypical apocalyptic participants including the doomsayers, survivalists, the average American, the witness, the outsiders and the lost tribe. “Suspense (The Witness)” (2015) is a large close up of a woman’s face. The background is completely black, her face lit up across her eyes and the bridge of her nose as if she were hiding in wait, watching through a slit, or witnessing a bright flash. Placed across from the Film in the gallery space, we mimic her ready yet passive gaze towards the film in aw of our sure demise. “Ground Zero (State of Ambivalence)” (2012) depicts an aging, dismayed, middle class man on a concrete balcony with dust settling on the left. The photograph, shot in 2012 in reference to a world-changing event over ten years earlier (as implied by the title), the image seems more like a staged scene in which a common helpless reaction is captured.

“Ground Zero” is hung across from two photographs that represent the two real events that instigated Ko’s interest in apocalypse. The manipulated, found NASA image of the Challenger explosion, titled “Challenger (The Accident)” (1986-2012) was taken around the time Brendan George Ko was born, and marked for the public the danger of space exploration. The photograph, taken from the ground with no visible carnage or debris, demonstrates the way in which he imagines the world frozen in shock, looking upward – a motif found also in “The Apocalypse as a Metaphor Part 1.”  The second event occurred at a more affective and memorable age for George Ko. 9/11 was another moment in which the world seemed to stand still and war took on a new enemy. Despite the reality and pervasive imagery of this event, he has placed the CNN coverage of the towers in a staged living room for the photograph “Nine Eleven (The Marker)” (2010). “Nine Eleven”, in a staged living room, is a reminder that in internationally recognized events we each have our own unforgettable context of reception, but also that in fictionalized ones, Hollywood has control on our singular mass experience. 

Brendan George Ko, Nine Eleven (The Marker), 2011 – 2011, c-print, 20” x 24”

Brendan George Ko expresses his own opinions about apocalyptic fantasies and how he sees the reality of our fate. In contemporary and historical apocalyptic tales, the catalysts are usually external, mysterious and uncontrollable forces. Ultimately, this finger pointing is a way to offset the guilt and responsibility for horrifying prospects. In Ko’s photograph “Product Placement (Malthusian Catastrophe)” (2013), the Lady of Shalotte is de-romanticized by the polluting garbage that floats alongside her corpse like a Lays product placement would seem in Lars von Trier’s “Melancholia.” Ko expresses frustration with our approaching doom as it is not an external force, it is one of natural asphyxiation by pollution, one that could be stopped, but that will never be taken seriously in the face of other potential apocalypses. 

Brendan George Ko, Product Placement (Malthusian Catastrophe), 2013, c-print, 30” x 40”

By including both real and fantastical events, the definition for apocalypse is clearly delineated. Real apocalyptic events mark ‘the end of the world as we know it’, meaning a shifting attitude, or declaration of war, but not necessarily the end of mankind. Hollywood’s version of apocalypse is explosive and entertaining. Nevertheless, each occurrence will produce the stereotypes captured by Brendan George Ko including climate change conspirators and zombie cult survivalists.

Brendan George Ko, Each Other (The Outsider), 2014, c-print, 20” x 24”

Alice Pelot
Image courtesy of LE Gallery

*Exhibition information: LE Gallery, May 6 – 28, 2016, 1183 Dundas Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat, 12 – 6 p.m.

Is there anything better than natural sunlight on paintings? It was a lovely sun-filled day in Parkdale and might I say the optimal moment to see Celia Neubauer’s Outliers. General Hardware is in an elongated space that has glass walls in the front and back of the space; spacious, too – perfect for these paintings. 

Outliers is an exhibit of small and large works that mostly share the same white, blue, and black palette. These paintings seems quite a departure from Neubauer’s older works. With a more minimal palette and composition, Neubauer’s new works showcase her improved intentionality and her ability to handle the tension between her painted objects and the edges of the painting. Almost all the paintings in the show have a blue-black background, and a white object in the middle. Through these elements, Neubauer establishes an astonishing sense of dimensionality, vastness, and complexity.

Installation view of Celia Neubauer, Outliers, General Hardware Contemporary, Main Gallery

Curation was quite effective towards her paintings as well. The two paintings that were arguably the most accomplished were displayed front and centre, as the first visible things upon entering. “Outliers 0010” is a large painting that, in a perfect world, deserves to be alone on a wall with more space to walk away from. It is skillfully executed with a visually-pleasing composition. The different kinds of mark-making Neubauer achieves with just white paint is stellar. The vertical drip marks, the pointy zig-zag marks, and the fascinating blotchy marks (wet-on-wet technique perhaps?) coalesce together in a balanced juxtaposition, all situated on a dynamic black and blue background that further deepens the space.

 Celia Neubauer, Outlier 0010, oil on canvas, 66″ x 56″

Though her smaller works are interesting, they lack the sense of vastness that is established in her larger work. Looking at “Outlier 0013” solidifies the fact that Neubauer benefits from a bigger canvas. This could not be transferred to a smaller canvas because the sheer size of it – 66 inches high – provides an immersive experience. “Outlier 0013” portrays an abstract, three-dimensional model that achieves the sense of epic proportions thanks to the background. By being situated in a deep, seemingly-infinite space, this painting reminds the eye of the cosmos. 

 Celia Neubauer, Outlier 0013, oil on canvas, 66″ x 56″

This aesthetic of the cosmic is most apparent in “Outlier 0015” and “Outlier 0016”. I must admit, at first it made me think of the bona-fide objects resulting from the galaxy-aesthetic obsession rampant in DIY culture. However, these two are most different from the rest, since they have a more dynamic palette and a different relationship with the edge. Compositionally it is ‘framed within a frame’: inside the square canvas are rectangular shapes that geometrically surround the painted subject with near-solid black frames. Another intriguing aspect was that the closer I got to the paintings, the deeper and more dimensional they felt.

Celia Neubauer, Outlier 0015 (left) and Outlier 0016 (right), both: oil on canvas, 48″ x 48″

Also exhibited in General Hardware in their ‘Project Space’ – a small area in the basement – is a small exhibition of oil paintings by Caroline Larsen. Titled Lush Life, the beautiful landscape and nature themed paintings showcase Larsen’s apparent disdain for paintbrushes. Thick, rich hues are piped onto the canvas. “Big Leaf” not only shows Larsen’s complex colour palette, but also her piping skills.

Caroline Larsen, Big Leaf, oil on canvas, 27″ x 31″

Furthermore, years of art education usually did a pretty good job of instilling the ‘never touching an artwork in a gallery’ rule in me – unless instructed to do otherwise of course. Larsen’s paintings nearly broke down this doctrine because of the sculptural quality of their texture and their colour manipulation. While her overall imagery is pleasing, it is more interesting to look at the subtle mixed colours in each of her piped lines up close.

The two exhibitions exist in the gallery as a harmonious pairing – Neubauer’s minimal palette is effectively juxtaposed with the inundation of colours in Larsen’s work. Both painters exhibit highly developed paint manipulation, both in colours and mark-making.

Text and photo: Sunny Kim

*Exhibition information: Celia Neubauer: Outliers & Caroline Larsen: Lush Life, April 30 – May 28, 2016, General Hardware Contemporary, 1520 Queen Street West, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat 12 – 6 pm.

The proclaimed Famous New Media Artist Jeremy Bailey presents us with the Next Big Thing at Pari Nadimi Gallery. The Toronto based artist, represented by Pari Nadimi, has well travelled art works appearing at the ICA and Southbank Centre in London, The Stedelijk Museum and Mediamatic in Amsterdam, the Tate Liverpool and the New Museum in New York to name a few. Bailey’s works are a departure from first wave New Media art. His works do expose some underlying systems of our technologies, and even occasionally appropriate symbols from their many interfaces, but his works also incorporate performance. Bailey’s practice as a New Media artist uses parody and joke to undermine the space between our bodies and screens as we perform the maneuvers required using them.

Installation view of Jeremy Bailey, Next Big Thing at Pari Nadimi Gallery, 2016. Image courtesy of Pari Nadimi Gallery

Hung on the gallery walls are five printed works of abstract blobs on a pleasantly lilac background, and identified as ‘gestural paintings’.  The thin layers of shading that compose the forms seem deceptively like watercolors, but given the glossy sheen of the paper surface, the works are more probably printed to resemble the reflective qualities of a screen.

Jeremy Bailey, Head Gesture I, 2016, C-Print, 29″ x 50”. Image courtesy of Pari Nadimi Gallery

On the floor of Pari Nadimi Gallery is a TV, laid on its back, of approximately the same colour as the background. On a busy night such as the opening reception, a form or forms constantly pulse against the lilac screen like something bobbing to the tense surface of water or a body pressing against glass. Every so often the forms on the screen show signs that they are human bodies having hands and faces. Next to the screen, on the floor, is a device (which to my untechnologically savvy eye looked like a speaker) that captures the movements of people moving through the space, their bodies making temporary marks on the screen like paint brushes, but also as subjects. We might imagine that our bodies take these forms as we press against the screens of our devices, sending signals through touch to find an old picture or send an email; our bodies as instruments and signs.

Installation view of Jeremy Bailey, Next Big Thing at Pari Nadimi Gallery, 2016. Image courtesy of Pari Nadimi Gallery

The juxtaposition of the printed works – screen shots of past movement on the monitor – with the active interface requires us to react and then reflect on the evidence of our actions. Just as Roland Barthes understood the photograph as a representation for the death of a moment, the captured and rendered form in Bailey’s work represents inactivity. In the online world, what is ‘singing off’ if not a death, a moment of unrefreshed data? There is another death inherent in Bailey’s exhibition: the death of our online/performative egos. Rosalind Krauss in her text ‘Video: The Aesthetics of Narcissism’ (October, no. 1, Spring 1976, 181.) describes the camera and monitor as parentheses for centering the performative body. The performers are able to reflect on their performance as it is occurring, facing the death of each moment as it passes, eventually enacting a history. Krauss understands the self-reflectivity as evidence of narcissism.

Installation view of Jeremy Bailey, Next Big Thing at Pari Nadimi Gallery, 2016. Image courtesy of Pari Nadimi Gallery

The parentheses defined by Krauss still exist in our age of computers as motion sensor devices and screens. In Krauss’ parentheses, the performers may either feel the medium as an extension of themselves or their actions may be defined by the result on screen. Bailey extends Krauss’ theory to a world of screens defined by the Internet and computers in his essay ‘Performance for the computer’ (Documents of Contemporary Art: Moving Image, 2006, 124). In a cloud interface where these narcissistic interactions live on, we might be more inclined, as a performer, to dominate the medium, impress on it our egos, an impression of ourselves, one that can go on representing us in the cloud. In doing this, we risk not the death but the loss of our egos. Bailey sees the risk that the computer becomes us and we become ‘users’. 

Installation view of Jeremy Bailey, Next Big Thing at Pari Nadimi Gallery, 2016. Image courtesy of Pari Nadimi Gallery

Bailey manages to maintain his ego by doing what computers cannot. He laughs at himself and his narcissism, and invites us to laugh with him. I recommend that we honor the jocose and satire of his practice by making faces at the screen on the floor of Pari Nadimi Gallery. Being together through a common, physical interface may even eliminate our egos to form a communal lilac identity. Bailey’s interface is an opportunity to actively belong to an existential, digital blanket.

Installation view of Jeremy Bailey, Next Big Thing at Pari Nadimi Gallery, 2016. Image courtesy of Pari Nadimi Gallery

Alice Pelot

*Exhibition information: April 21 – July 2, 2016, Pari Nadimi Gallery, 254 Niagara Street, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat, 12 – 5 pm.

May 4 –  May 8, 2016
OCAD UNIVERSITY
49, 52, 60, 100 McCaul Street, Toronto
Opening Night Celebration: Wednesday, May 4, 2016 / 6:30 – 11 p.m.
Hours: Thur – Fri, 9:30 a.m. – 8 p.m. Sat – Sun, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m.

More than 900 promising young artists and designers are exhibiting at the biggest GradEx ever — OCAD University’s 101st! This year, GradEx is a five-day exhibition spread across four buildings. Students from undergraduate and graduate programs show their final thesis work to the about 30,000 expected guests.

The first show I visited was located at 52 McCaul St., a rather small one, where I almost fell over the balls on the floor in the back room. There were many, all white, and they seemed real, deflated balls. I didn’t believe that they were not real balls, just painted white, so I touched them – and indeed they were all made of concrete. No point kicking them unless you want to get hurt.

Esmaa Mohamoud, Heavy, Heavy (Hoop Dreams)

After crossing the street to 49 McCaul I looked at some digital technology pieces. I fully agree with their statement about how technology became scary in our century. They also reassure us that their new generation would change that.

I’ve seen another shows at 60 McCaul before and I truly love that space since it is a great environment for installations and basically any kind of art work. It should permanently belong to OCAD U. The mixture of art works were interesting and intriguing. Kevin Holliday was seductively smiling at us from a children’s plastic pond in his performance based installation: Is this how Marilyn Monroe felt. Cat Bluemke addressed “hot net aesthetics” with painted advertisements on plastic sheets that look like shower curtains showing how internet images intrude our everyday life (Parked Domains). Sheldon Storey, Dani Minuskin and Dana Priato reached back to their past to commemorate their ancestors’ history and communal places while Carson Teal video installation shows the “ideal” suburban house in and out. I loved the fun of Camille Rauton’s toy-series, titled, Let it be, all made of beeswax. Connor Smith’s poolside captured the excitement of a summer day. Meghan Fitzgerald’s landscapes were surprisingly mature and well painted for a graduating student.

Kevin Holliday’s performance piece

Cat Bluemke, Parked Domains (detail)

Sheldon Storey, I Come Form A Line Of Men Who:, installation (detail)

Dana Priato: Commonplace or Community Portrait

Carson Teal’s video installation (detail)

Camille Rauton, Child’s Play (Deer)

Connor Smith, poolside

Landscapes by Meghan Fitzgerald

Stepping into OCAD U’s main building on that sunny Thursday afternoon, I was immediately surrounded by a happy buzzing of young people. They were all over the place, many of them graduating this year and proudly showing their work to friends and relatives. Kristina Guison tried to explain to a visitor how her metal sculpture can “sing” moving a violin bow over its parts. It was interesting but not very convincing.

Kristina Guison with her sculpture

Some of the visitors tried to have a deeper understanding

I love paintings and was happy to see that this medium is well, much alive and very promising for this future generation of artists. Surprisingly portraiture was heavily represented with excellent works. Ryan Quian’s depiction of a young woman is very encapsulating with its one of a kind blue haze and a scarf that is three dimensional. Brendan Yhip’s large portraits are truly grandiose. Grace Brooks’ paintings are remarkable with their irony.

Ryan Quian, portrait from East + West series

Portraits by Brendan Yhip

Grace Brooks, Plastic Paradise (Miami Visor)

It is always too much to see and one never can cover the entire exhibition. This year’s is a very strong show with numerous exciting work. Congratulations Grads of 2016.

Text: Emese Krunák-Hajagos
Photo: Imre Hajagos

 

Thompson Landry Gallery’s current exhibition of Marie-Josée Roy from Trois-Riveres, Quebec is an intriguing one. Roy is a metal-smith who has beautifully crafted her pieces through a combination of several techniques including image transfer, painting, etching, plating, welding, and engraving. “Womb” is the collection of about 50 works from the last few years. I found myself in awe while strolling through the gallery. Each piece must be viewed for some time in order to grasp all the layers.

Marie-Josée Roy in front of her work, Le chant du quantique, welded steel, 82″ x 56″ x 6″. Photo: Emily Newell

I had the chance to speak with Roy and was most curious about the title of the show; “Womb”. She explained that she wanted a word in English that could encompass how she felt about her works. She told me that the word “Womb” fit perfectly because of its life-giving meaning. Her artwork all has an essence of life. Every piece has a human form focusing on the head, hands or feet. Each of these body parts breathe life into her pieces and with the surrounding motifs create a composition that can only be described as amazing.

Marie-Josée Roy, Et il y a eu le déversement, oil and photo transfer on aluminum, 60” x 48”. Courtesy of Thompson Landry Gallery

Long bodies are stretched over large metal plates, their heads turned up towards the sky. There are hands depicted by glorious colours protruding with vibrant paints, exploding with passion. Branch like appendages being expelled from hands exploring the connection between human life and nature. In “La décloison” the image of an embracing couple behind clouds of paint shows absolute contentment and love. Their heads, hands and feet are photo realistic while their bodies are covered with dynamically applied  large splashes of paint. A cavalcade of figures from Renaissance paintings surround them – creating a dramatic movement in the composition. Each piece has such a depth, layers upon layers of the meaning of human nature.

Marie-Josée Roy, La décloison, oil and photo transfer on aluminium, 96” x 48”. Courtesy of Thompson Landry Gallery

The arms in “Le guide I, II and III” are reaching for something that are too far and get elongated in their effort. Around each wrist there is a pattern of etching that distract the viewer from just seeing an arm but rather an interesting image that completed by the paint dripping from the fingers. On the first piece white paint drips starting a procedure that reminds us of the passing time: the dark blue for the night and the bright light on the last one for the morning or for eternity.

Marie-Josée Roy, Le guide I, II, III, each: mixed media on aluminum, 60” x 12”. Courtesy of Thompson Landry Gallery

The excellently crafted “Le fil de mon histoire” is a good example of Roy’s artistic method. A beautiful young woman stands on the right and from her body an intricate pattern arises. It is a mixture of feathers, stylized flowers and ornaments, applied in a way that reminds us of art nouveau. The etching on this piece is extraordinary and wonderfully emphasizes the beauty of metal that shines in a golden light. Standing about 5 feet tall, it is a fabulous example of Roy’s dedication in exploring the wonders of life.

Marie-Josée Roy, Le fil de mon histoire, oil and photo transfer on copper, engraving by Jérôme Prieur, 22” x 18”. Courtesy of Thompson Landry Gallery

Roy’s works are encapsulating. Each piece is unique and can be easily distinguished by its raw style that has a combination of masculine and feminine traits. They are all pregnant with beauty.

Emily Newell

*Exhibition information: April 21 – May 15, 2016, Thompson Landry Gallery Stone Distillery, 32 Distillery Lane, Toronto. Gallery hours: Tue – Sat, 11 am – 6 pm; Sun, 12 – 5 pm.

 

The Scotiabank Photography Award is Canada’s largest and most prestigious annual peer-nominated and peer-reviewed award that acknowledges the outstanding contribution that our winners have made to contemporary art and photography. These are artists who strive to invent, influence and redefine the reception of art in ways that will endure. The Scotiabank Photography Award winner exhibition is a featured primary exhibition co-curated by Paul Roth & Gaëlle Morel at the Ryerson Image Centre during the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. The winner also receives a $50,000 cash prize and a book of their work published and distributed worldwide by Steidl of Germany.

The Award was founded in 2010, on behalf of Scotiabank, by Edward Burtynsky, internationally-renowned Canadian photo artist and Chair of the Scotiabank Photography Award with Jane Nokes, Scotiabank’s former Director, Arts, Culture and Heritage, to strengthen Scotiabank’s commitment to the Arts in Canada.

The longlist is announced in January and the short list is announced in March. The winner will be announced on May 3rd during the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, along with the opening of the exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre and the book launch for the previous year’s winner, Angela Grauerholz.

The winner of the 2016 Scotiabank Photography Award is Suzy Lake.

Lake is one of the most accomplished, internationally acclaimed photographer in Canada whose work address personal and social issues like identity, family and personal history, femininity and aging among others.

The 2016 Scotiabank Photography Award Shortlist Finalists were:

Pascal Grandmaison

Pascal Grandmaison, verre, 2004

Pascal Grandmaison was born in Montreal in 1975, and earned his Bachelor of Fine and Media Arts degree from Université du Québec à Montréal (1997). His work has been featured in solo exhibitions at the National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Casino Luxembourg–Forum d’art contemporain, the Art Gallery of Hamilton (Ontario) Prefix Photo (Toronto), and in numerous group exhibitions, including Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, La Compagnie, lieu de creation (Marseilles), Centre culturel canadien (Paris). His videos have been presented internationally, most recently at Haus der Kulturen des Welt (Berlin), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Edinburgh Art Festival (Edinburgh), Le Fresnoy (Tourcoing), Centre Pompidou (Paris). Pascal Grandmaison is a 2015 recipient of the prestigious Hnatyshyn Foundation Visual Arts Award.

Suzy Lake

Suzy Lake, Forever Young, 2000

Suzy Lake began her art practice in 1968, after moving to Montreal from her birthplace, Detroit, following the social and political unrest of the 1960s. Lake was among the first female artists in Canada to adopt performance, video, and photography to explore the politics of gender, the body, and identity. In 1972 she formed Véhicule Art Inc. with twelve other artists to establish one of the first artist-run centres in Canada. She moved to Toronto in 1978 where she became a co-founder of the Toronto Photographers Workshop. Lake taught for 40 years in Montreal, Toronto, and most recently as head of the University of Guelph photo department. Lake currently lives and makes work in Toronto.

Lake was the subject of a major mid-career retrospective, Point of Reference, organized by the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in 1993. In 2007 Lake was one of 120 women in the historical show WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution, an exhibition organized by Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art that toured to galleries across the U.S. and Canada, including the Vancouver Art Gallery. Lake’s participation in historical exhibitions includes Identity Theft: Eleanor Antin, Lynn Hershman, Suzy Lake, 1972-1978 (Santa Monica Museum of Art), The Pictures Generation (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) and Held Together With Water (Sammlung Verbund, Vienna). In 2014 the Art Gallery of Ontario presented a full-career retrospective titled Introducing Suzy Lake.

Lake’s most recent project involves researching and photographically performing her family history from 1880-1925, which includes traces of Detroit’s rejuvenation. The work is sponsored by a Knight Foundation residency. The photographs in this work are featured in a book titled Suzy Lake: Performing an Archive, published by Dazibao. Prints from the book are scheduled to be exhibited at the McMaster Art Gallery, Hamilton Art Gallery and the Windsor Art Gallery.

Jayce Salloum

Jayce Salloum’s photograph

Jayce Salloum’s work exists in/between the very personal, quotidian, local and the transnational. It takes place in a variety of contexts though has consistently been about mediation – the gap between the experience and the accounting/telling/receiving of it, engaging in an intimate subjectivity and discursive/dialectical challenge while critically asserting itself in the representation and perception of social manifestations and realities.

He has worked in photography since 1978, as well as curating exhibitions, conducting workshops and facilitating a vast array of cultural projects. Lately the work has taken place in Austria, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, China, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, former Yugoslavia, Galapagos Islands, and other places throughout the Americas. After 22 years living in San Francisco, Banff, Toronto, San Diego, Beirut, and New York, he moved to Vancouver and has been based there since 1997.

Salloum tends to go only where he is invited or where there is an intrinsic affinity, thus his projects are rooted in a connectivity with place(s), and the people that inhabit them. He relies on the kindness of strangers, especially when he is in unfamiliar territory, speaks next to nothing of the language or knows less than he thinks he does which is most of the time. He has been producing art, collecting interesting objects, making things happen and mixing it up discursively for as long as he can remember. It was always part art and part social lubrication, or maybe that makes it all ‘art’, anyways it usually challenged whatever the dominant culture was and involved people from various parts in liaison and/or at odds with each other.

He has exhibited at the widest range of local and international venues possible, as well as at some unusual ones, occasionally on the side of a building or at the side of a road, bus shelters, a rocky shoreline or down in the woods, from the smallest unnamed storefronts & community centres in his downtown eastside neighbourhood to institutions such as the National Gallery of Canada; Museum of Modern Art–NYC; Musée du Louvre, Centre Pompidou, Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume¬–Paris; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien–Berlin; Museum Villa Stuck–Munich; Museo Nacional Centro De Arte Reina Sofia–Madrid; 8th Havana Biennial; 7th Sharjah Biennial; and the 15th Biennale Of Sydney.

His work has appeared in many journals e.g. Third Text, Framework, Prefix Photo, Fuse, Public and Semiotext(e) and in books including, Projecting Migration: Transcultural Documentary Practice (Wallflower/Columbia Univ.) and The Archive (Modern Reader Series¬–Whitechapel Gallery). Essays on his work featured in Image and Inscription: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Photography (YYZ/Gallery 44) and other anthologies. The monograph, Jayce Salloum: history of the present, was released in 2009. His most recent text on photography was just published in The Militant Image Reader (Edition Camera Austria–Graz), with a collaborative version to be published in Performing Utopias in the Contemporary Americas: Between the Local and the Global (Palgrave Macmillan). Salloum is a recipient of the 2014 Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts. He is represented by MKG127, Toronto.

The 2015 winner Angela Grauerholz will have his Scotiabank Photography Award book launch and exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre, from May 4 to August 21, 2016.

The 2016 Scotiabank Photography Award winner will be announced on May 3, 2016 at the Ryerson Image Centre. For more information about the prize please visit www.scotiabankphotoaward.com.

 

Last summer, I ducked into an alleyway behind a shoe store on Queen and Euclid. I did it to see if my curiosity could lead me to find any new artwork. It did. I saw a distinct piece of street art by someone who I had yet to recognize; it was an angular, grey-scale raccoon imposed onto a geometric back-splash.

BirdO, Raccoon, Queen and Euclid, Toronto

If you know what to look for (as I did since that moment), you’ll see that BirdO’s art has since taken over Toronto. He paints large-scale animal hybrid murals that splash onto concrete and brick throughout back alley pockets. The work is sharp, making use of angles and drop shadows to illustrate the absurdity of impossible creatures scattered throughout a grey metropolis. I find the work to be recognizable without being repetitive, and I like the irony that these murals seem to be hidden in plain sight, despite their scale and vividity.

BirdO, Dino

Though BirdO remains anonymous, he’s been involved in some pretty big projects like painting pillar’s at Toronto’s Underpass Park, creating indoor murals for the Drake Hotel, and has been a featured artist in Miami’s Art Basel Festival. In fact, this Toronto bird is quite migratory. BirdO has been making a presence internationally, painting walls in Detroit, Nicaragua, Los Angeles, Miami, Baltimore, and Mexico City. Last weekend, I was invited into his studio, not knowing what to expect from this Canadian muralist who seems to have outgrow his hometown roots.

BirdO, Self-portrait

Because of his anonymity, I had been guessing about the kind of person he would be. I suppose that I was expecting to meet an artist whose personality was as loud as his work, since that’s all I had to go by. BirdO surprised me. He met me with a collected calmness, and welcomed me into his studio space.

I interviewed him as he painted. Starting with the first, almost obvious question, I asked how did he get to where he is now.

BirdO answered, “I’m from Saskatchewan. When I was younger, there were a couple of cats in Saskatoon that were spraying freight trains…That’s how I first got involved. It’s funny because graffiti itself is definitely linked to hip-hop culture. So If you’re kind of into hip-hop and you dig a little deeper, you ask yourself “what’s this graffiti stuff?”. I started coming out to the freight train yard all the time. I fell in love. I was just bumming around – watching people paint, watching the trains go by… that was the first moment I realized that Oh! This is a thing…”.

BirdO in his studio, 2016

He spoke slowly as he mixed a shade of turquoise for a commissioned painting he was working on. Unlike many of the people I meet on a day-to-day base, BirdO wasn’t in a rush. He just seemed like he was exactly where he wanted to be in that moment, making careful paint strokes as the conversation went on and he added, “Subsequently, I moved to Toronto and there was graffiti everywhere. The timing was right. I wanted to play.”

I wanted to know about his evolution as an artist, what his style was like when he started, and his thoughts on Toronto versus the international street art scene. He laughingly described how he moved here in 2001 and “spray painted his nickname all over people’s property”.

The question of street art versus graffiti seemed to inevitably come up. It’s a topic that’s over-done, as every “street artist” I’ve spoken to outlines the tensions between the two universes that comes from their opposing philosophies. In short, the graffiti scene is an anonymous counterculture. One that lacks regulation, or hierarchy, and prides itself on a public ownership of space and a lack of rules. Basically: put your tag in the most impressive space, and don’t worry about anyone else. Street art, on the other hand, encourages notoriety of spray paint artists, whose works are often commissioned, and who see hierarchy in aerosol projects. Meaning that a street art mural deserves more respect than a tag. Graffiti and street artists often play a power dance with one another of tagging and repainting murals.

BirdO, Peacock

As BirdO explained, “There are two games really. There is graffiti and there is muralism (or as people like to say, street art), and there is definitely friction; the two mediums competing for the same wall space. I’m still trying to find out what my title is. I just paint.” It’s obvious that BirdO still straddles both worlds. DMC is a graffiti crew that he painted with in Toronto as he first started, and his anonymity is a nod to his graffiti roots. But he tells me he finds himself moving farther away from graffiti, “I’ve been really focused on bettering my craft, being called out to international art festivals, painting on short timelines, and taking on residencies”.

He also commented on the difference between the public art scene in Toronto and in other places he’s worked. “It’s Toronto, that’s supposed to be the most progressive city in our country, we’re supposed to be thought leaders, and while we’ve got some agencies trying to be on the forefront of modern thinking in regards to painting with aerosol, we are actually so far behind what other cities are doing”.

BirdO’s mural in Miami, USA

BirdO was referencing street art festivals, like Montreal’s Festival Mural, Miami’s Art Basel, Rochester’s Wall Therapy among others. Since the hey-days of Rob Ford’s war on graffiti, Toronto has in fact made strides towards increasing its status as a city that supports public art by funding non-profit public art initiatives like Mural Routes, StreetArtToronto, The PATCH Project, and The STEPs Initiative, but it’s clear that we’ve still got a long way to go.

“Toronto has recently eclipsed Chicago… so when you say that there’s only LA and New York that are bigger cities than us in North America, you really can’t put Toronto on the same scale culturally. And when you travel to the states, they don’t either. That’s a main part of the Toronto dilemma, to get recognized internationally.” We reflected on the fact that much of the international street art scene has been shaped by revolutions, disasters, and conflicts such as the graffiti that existed in Berlin during the 1980’s, murals in Havana that reflect on the country’s communism, or murals of Northern Ireland that express political tensions. Toronto has been lucky in lacking any political issues, huge events or disasters that unite us as people in such a way.

BirdO. La Iguana

BirdO also tells me that this city has been good to him and he loves it dearly. It is here where he can focus on trying to get better, and Toronto has given him the platform to play and explore, and gives him the confidence and comfort to go out internationally.

From my chat with BirdO and the reflections that followed, I came to see him as an artist that uses Toronto as a stepping stone for grander projects. This isn’t a poor reflection on him, as much as it is a reflection on the potential of our city. There is a paradox between Toronto’s growing presence as an internationally renowned city and how far it still has to go with its cultural programming. BirdO has simply been swept up in this paradox. I hope that he continues to produce amazing artwork for our city as his recognition grows.

Ella Gorevalov

 

This is the 20th Anniversary of Scotiabank Contact Photography Festival, the largest photography festival in the world. With so much choices, with well over 1500 Canadian and international artists and photographers exhibiting at more than 200 exhibitions throughout the Greater Toronto Area, it isn’t easy picking exhibits to see.

We all look forward to seeing much more than the ones listed but these caught our interest and everyone is sure to have their own list as well.

Phil Anderson, publisher/writer:

Rewilding the Gardiner / Usue Ruiz Arana
May 1 – 31, 2016
Evergreen  Brick Works
550 Bayview Avenue Suite 300, Toronto

Usue Ruiz Arana, York Street, 2015

Jack of All Trades / Rodney Graham
May 12 – July 30, 2016
PREFIX Institute of Contemporary Art
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 124, Toronto

Surface Tension / Joan Kaufman
May 11 – June 12, 2016
Lonsdale Gallery
410 Spadina Road

Joan Kaufman, Root Series 2.2, 2015. Archival pigment print, 44 x 36”

Emese Krunák-Hajagos, publisher/writer:

Hypnagogia / Alec Soth
May 6 – June 25, 2016
Arsenal Toronto
45 Ernest Avenue, Toronto

Alec Soth, Park Hyatt Hotel, Tokyo, 2015. Inkjet print on vinyl, 108 x 144″

The Painted Photograph / Dean West
April 27 – June 4, 2016
Alison Milne Gallery
134 Osler Street, Toronto

Dean West , Palm Springs #1, 2015, Digital C-Type 60”x 96”

Steve Rockwell, publisher/writer:

Object Relations / Thomas Ruff
April 28 – July 31, 2016
Art Gallery of Ontario
316 Dundas Street West, Toronto 

Thomas Ruff, Machinen, 1411, 2003, Chromogenic print, 51 x 66″. © Thomas Ruff / SODRAC (2016)

Jack of All Trades / Rodney Graham
May 12 – July 30, 2016
PREFIX Institute of Contemporary Art
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 124, Toronto

Rodney Graham, Pipe Cleaner Artist, Amalfi “61, 2013, two Painted aluminium light boxes with transmounted chromogenic transparency  90 x 146 x 7”. Courtesy of the artist and 303 Gallery, New York; Lisson Gallery, London and Hauser & Wirth (Zürich)

Meghan O’Callaghan

some landings/certains débarquements / Jesse Boles, Robert Burley, L.E. Glazer, Sue Lloyd, Lisa Murzin
May 3 – 28, 2016
John B. Aird Gallery
900 Bay Street, The Macdonald Block, Toronto

Internet Mountains / Clive Holden
May 1 – 31, 2016
Gardiner Museum
111 Queen’s Park, Toronto

Clive Holden, INTERNET MOUNTAINS 28, 2014

Toilet Paper: Toronto Carousel / Maurizio Cattelan, Pierpaolo Ferrari
April 30 – May 31, 2016
Metro Hall
Structure on King Street West and John Street

Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, Untitled, from Toilet Paper, Courtesy of the artists.

Sunny Kim, writer/photographer:

Field Trip / Sarah Anne Johnson
March 5 – June 5, 2016
McMichael Canadian Art Collection
10365 Islington Avenue, Kleinburg

Sarah Anne Johnson, Drooping Flower and Beer Can, 2015. Chromogenic print, 30 x 20″. Courtesy Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto; Galerie Division, Montreal; Julie Saul Gallery, New York

Ned Pratt
April 28 – May 21, 2016
Nicholas Metivier Gallery
451 king Street West, Toronto

Emily Lawrence, writer/photographer:

Counterpoints: Photography Through the Lens of Toronto Collections
May 6 – July 30, 2016
Art Museum at the University of Toronto
15 King’s College Circle

E. J. Bellocq, Storyville Portrait, ca. 1912. 16 x 14″ framed. Image by E.J. Belloc © Lee Friedlander, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco. Collection of Carole and Howard Tanenbaum

Over a Distance Between One and Many / Raymond Boisjoly
April 14 – June 12, 2016
Koffler Gallery
180 Shaw Street, Suite 104-105

Katie Lawson, writer/photographer:

We’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow / Kotama Bouabane
April 29 – May 28, 2016
Gallery 44 Centre for Contemporary Photography 
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 124, Toronto

Kotama Bouabane, CC50G, 2015. Chromogenic print, 10 x 8″. Courtesy of the artist

Scotiabank Photography Award / Angela Grauerholz
May 4 – August 21, 2016
Ryerson Image Centre  
33 Gould Street, Toronto

Angela Grauerholz, Sententia I – LXII, (detail), 1998. 62 gelatin silver prints framed in a wood cabinet. © Toni Hafkenscheid. Courtesy of the artist, Art 45, Montreal and Olga Koper Gallery, Toronto

Performing an Archive / Suzy Lake
April 29 – June 4, 2016
Georgia Scherman Projects
33 Tecumseth Street, Toronto

Emily Newell, writer/photographer

Annie MacDonnell / Holding Still // Holding Together
May 4 – 21, 2016
Ryerson Image Centre  
33 Gould Street, Toronto

Annie MacDonell, Holding Still // Holding Together, (video still), 2016. Multi-channel installation. © Annie MacDonell. Courtesy of the artist

Alice Pelot, writer/photographer:

Untitled / Leslie Hewitt
April 28 – May 31, 2016
Olga Korper Gallery
17 Morrow Avenue, Toronto

Leslie Hewitt, Untitled (Perception), 2013, Chromogenic Print, 49.5”x59.6”, Courtesy of the artist and Olga Korper Gallery / Sikkema Jenkins & Co.

Internet Mountains / Clive Holden
May 1 – 31, 2016
Gardiner Museum
111 Queen’s Park, Toronto

We Soon Be Nigh! / Brendan George Ko
May 6 – 28, 2016
LE Gallery
1183 Dundas Street West, Toronto

Brendan George Ko, Ground Zero (The State of Ambivalence), 2011, Chromogenic Print, 20”x24”

David Saric, writer/photographer:

Corin Sworn
March 20 – May 29, 2016
Oakville Galleries in Gairloch Gardens
1306 Lakeshore Road East, Oakville

Drape / Eva Stenram
April 27 – May 31, 2016
King Street West at Spadina Avenue, Toronto

Eva Stenram, Drape (Print 1), 2014

Mnemonic Landscape / 15.7.15@10:30 / James Nizam, Sylvie Bélanger
April 30 – June 4, 2016
Birch Contemporary
129 Secumseth Street, Toronto 

James Nizam, Lathes, Illumincations Series, 2015, Archival Pigment Print, 40”x32”, Courtesy of the artist and Birch Contemporary

Paintings / Jill Greenberg
May 1 – 31, 2016
Bau-Xi Photo
324 Dundas Street West, Toronto

Jill Greenberg, 160202 Painting 116, 2016. Archival Pigment Print, 77 x 58″. Courtesy of Bau-Xi Photo

The Last Tattooed Women of Kalinga / Jake Verzosa
May 1 – September 2, 2016
Royal Ontario Museum
Outside 100 Queen’s Park Entrance

Jake Verzosa, Bayada Gumaad, 2010 (Public Installation)

Surface Tension / Joan Kaufman
May 11 – June 12, 2016
Lonsdale Gallery
410 Spadina Road

*Featured image: Yunus Emre Dogan, Moore Night, 2011 from Urban Moments at Junction NODO, 2885 Dundas Street West, Toronto

 

“Like all walls it was ambiguous, two-faced. What was inside it and what was outside it depended upon which side of it you were on.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

Like the sister planets in Ursula K. Le Guin’s science fiction novel “The Dispossessed,” Marvin Luvualu Antonio’s solo exhibition of the same name is confined behind walls. Taking on the role of the outsider, the viewer can only observe what appears to be Antonio’s abandoned dystopia through a chain-linked fence. Remnants of a story left untold line the sand covered ground as the viewer has roughly 2.5 feet of room between Antonio’s fence and the gallery walls to move around the installation where, at each corner turned, a new artifact comes into view.

Installation view of Dispossessed /Pt 1 at Clint Roenisch Gallery, 2016. Image courtesy of Clint Roenisch Gallery

Each work in the show is a sign of humanity and the struggles that come along with it, as themes of cultural appropriation, racial politics, identity, and capitalism are addressed through Antonio’s street material sculptures and loose canvas acrylic paintings. Aaliyah’s “At Your Best (You Are Love)” eerily plays on repeat in the vain of elevator music, or like an abandoned iPod that was never turned off. Dispossessed /Pt 1 carries with it a narrative that the viewer as an outsider will probably never fully piece together, but one can surely try.

Emily Lawrence

*Exhibition information: March 24 – April 30, 2016, Clint Roenisch Gallery, 190 Saint Helens Avenue, Toronto. Gallery hours: Wed – Sat, 12 – 6 p.m.

 

Panoramic view of To be… at Walnut Contemporary. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Hanging in the window of Walnut Contemporary are two large paper wings framing four white clay organs set above two nests. These works “Carna” and “Hope” (2016) by Julia Harris exemplify the altruistic nature of the gallery’s partnership with Trillium Gift of Life Network. The humanitarian cause for which the exhibition To be… has been presented is to raise awareness about the importance of becoming an organ donor, to change the limited number of donations that are available in Ontario. The Trillium Gift of Life Network works to increase life saving/changing organ and tissue donations from across the province. This foundation, as a network, not only connects potential donors with the stories of life changing successes, it also aims to normalize the consent required for donations.

Julia Harris, Carna (Wings), wire and handmade Lokta paper, variable size & Hope (Nest and Organs), porcelan stoneware mix, handmade Lokta paper and cattails, variable size. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

The artists showing works in To be…  are a mixture of gallery artists and guest artists. including Diego De La Rosa, Heidi Mckenzie, Maria Rita Pires, Rui Pimenta, Tonya Hart, Carlos Delgado, Diana Bennett, Heidi Leverty, Ito Laïla François, Julia Harris, Manuel D’Olivares, Miguel Barros and Silvija Saplys are not recipients of transplant donations. Their works represent real stories and experiences of others, specific organs and tissues, or metaphors for faceless generosity. Among this works you can identify faces portraited by Ilene Sova. Those subjects have either received transplants or have been involved in donating. Sova was invited to be part of this project that needed to provide this humanitarian cause a face and a sense of community. The portrait “Painting of Keanan, Donor” shares the story of a baby by his parents’ positive outcomes in the face of their loss, and commemorates his heart donation to his ‘first girlfriend’ who is still healthy.

Diego de la Rosa, Esperanza Preciosa I, II, III (Precious Hope), oil on canvas, 8″ x 6″. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Ilene Sova, Painting of Keanan, Donor, oil on canvas, 5 x 5 feet. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Conversely, like the hanging sculpture by Julia Harris, the painting “Fragments” by Carlos Delgado is an anonymous, more spiritual representation of giving and selflessness. The subject’s chest glows against the dark background, his hands are outstretched, his eyes are closed and a sense of peace is captured on his face. The emotional fortitude required of the visitor is unusual of a commercial gallery, but it is perhaps in this way that an empathetic community is built around a cause.

Installation view of To be… with (from left to right): Carlos Delgado, Fragments, oil on canvas, 30″ x 40″; Rui Pimenta, The Hidden Place, latex, ink and copper wire, 36″ x 36″; Diana Bennett, Light I, mixed medium, 29″ x 21″, Light II, mixed medium, 12.5″ x 22″ (top row), Reach I & II, mixed medium, 10″ x 21.5″ each (bottom row). Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Lungs, as subtle as the shadow forms of an x-ray, appear in the painting of trees titled “Breathe” (2016) by Silvija Saplys. An artist, whose practice primarily involves painting out of focus monochromatic forests, has used trees in this instance as a metaphor for lungs – a representation of the atmosphere, since without it the Earth would be uninhabitable. Blood is represented in the photographic work titled “Universal Gift” (2016) by Heidi Leverty. No metaphor or hope is seen in this work; instead the cold sterility of hospitals is juxtaposed with the vibrant red of the viscous life giving substance. The repulsive box “That Hidden Place” filled with latex and wire by Rui Pimenta is a representation of skin, and eyes make an appearance in the work “Light I” (2016) by Diana Bennett who is revisiting tactile materials. Four sculptures, “Generous Heart I – IV” by Ito Laïla François, composed of ceramic, glass and felt embody the heart not only as a functioning organ of blood circulation, but also as the symbol that we associate with love and compassion. The enlarged and warped ceramic hearts bloom from aortas and ventricles with glass flowers of generosity that also resemble red and white blood vessels.

Heidi Leverty, Universal Gift, pigment on archival paper, 30″ x 30″, edition of 5. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Silvija Saplys, Breathe, acrylic on canvas, 36″ x 24″. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Ito Laïla François, Generous Heart II, clay, glass, 14″ x 15″ x 22″. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Given the ties that forever connect a donor with a recipient, I expected a mythology of this relationship to emerge, perhaps a ghost-like suggestion of the donors life or temperament that carries on through transplant. Instead, as the exhibition title suggests, the art works represent the tangible, real, life-giving organs and actions of others in an incredible array of materials and interpretations. The endeavor of of curator, Ibérina Raquel Vilhena to raise awareness of organ and tissue donation is not limited to Toronto, the exhibition To be… culminates in the coming fall 2016 in Toronto, but meanwhile will be travelling in Ontario, growing in each location. Check Walnut Contemporary’s website for updates on where to see the exhibition next.

Installation view of To be… at Walnut Contemporary. Image courtesy of Walnut Contemporary

Alice Pelot

*Exhibition information: To be … Group Exhibition, April 2 – 30, 2016, Walnut Contemporary, 201 Niagara Street (entrance at side lane). Gallery hours: Wed – Sat, 1 – 6 p.m.

**Featured image: Diana Bennett, Light II, mixed medium, 12.5″ x 22″, detail