Art Toronto is Canada’s only international art fair, running October 28 to 31 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. This year, the fair brings more than 100 galleries from across the country and around the world under one roof. Canadian Art will be there with a special artist project in our booth, a benefit edition, daily fair tours, a panel, and subscription special offers.
Artist Project by Gareth Long
Canadian Art is partnering with artist Gareth Long to present a booth installation—titled He knew many things, but he knew them all badly (counting waves)—that acts as a monument to remedial learning.
Before The Illiad and The Odyssey, Homer wrote a comedy, called Margites. From the scant surviving remnants of this lost text, we learn that Margites, the eponymous character, was something of a fool. One day, he went down to the sea to count the waves—an impossible task for anybody, but even more so for Margites, who couldn’t count past five.
In this project, the edges of Margites’s numerical universe are paired with rudimentary shapes, cresting and crashing on a wave-like curtain.
In the age of the smartphone, what does it mean to be stupid? Here, stupidity is understood as a mode of cultural production, an innovative approach to making art and an emancipatory means of sidestepping the utopian end game of modernism and progress.
Canadian Art Benefit Edition
Gareth Long has also created a benefit edition related to his installation to support Canadian Art’s cross-country educational, publishing and programming initiatives.
The work is titled He knew many things, but knew them all badly (and misfortunes often occur, so that it would be best to live (if at all) like Homer’s Margites, doing nothing and knowing nothing.), and it is graphite on paper in an edition of 10, plus 2 artist proofs.
Each drawing is 42 by 59.4 centimetres, and costs $1,250. To view the edition, or get more details, visit our booth anytime during the fair.
Panel: Satellites
Join us for a panel on Saturday, October 29, at 2:30 p.m. at the main stage of Art Toronto.
Panellists include Gareth Long, artist; Tara Downs, director, Tomorrow Gallery; Wanda Nanibush, assistant curator, Canadian and Indigenous Art, Art Gallery of Ontario; and David Balzer, editor-in-chief and co-publisher, Canadian Art.
“Abroad” is a word that continues to haunt Canadian cultural practice: many still say you’ve got to go away in order to be successful. In this panel, inspired by the theme of our Fall 2016 issue, we discuss the myths and realities of this notion as they pertain to contemporary art, with gallerists, curators, writers and artists all weighing in.
How is contemporary Canadian art integrating itself into the international art market and scene? How and why are Canadian artists recognized internationally? What are ways to keep our culture unique and sustainable while attracting international attention? What are the politics of having ambitions to be internationally visible—indeed, what are the identity- and class-based elements of being someone who works across borders?
Daily Editor Tours of Fair Highlights
Meet at the Canadian Art booth daily at 12:30 p.m. for a tour of fair highlights led by one of our editors.
The tour leaders are as follows: Bryne McLaughlin, senior editor, on Friday, October 28; Caoimhe Morgan-Feir, associate editor, on Saturday, October 29; Rosie Prata, managing editor, on Sunday, October 30; Leah Sandals, managing editor, online, on Monday, October 31.
Subscription Specials
Don’t miss an issue of Canada’s most widely read art magazine. Art Toronto visitors can get five issues for just $20 at the Canadian Art booth.
Canadian Art: Art Toronto Edition
Pick up a copy of our special Art Toronto Edition at the fair while supplies last—or read it in our Fall 2016 issue, download the PDF, or read through the embed below.
