Features
In the Atmosphere
On January 20, 2021, Jill Biden highlighted a Robert S. Duncanson painting at the US inauguration reception. Find out about Duncanson’s years in Montreal and connections with Canadian artists in this story from our Fall 2020 issue, “Chroma”
In the Atmosphere
On January 20, 2021, Jill Biden highlighted a Robert S. Duncanson painting at the US inauguration reception. Find out about Duncanson’s years in Montreal and connections with Canadian artists in this story from our Fall 2020 issue, “Chroma”
Javier Téllez/François Lacasse: Biennials and Blindness
New York–based artist Javier Téllez won raves at the 2008 Whitney Biennial for his video Letter on the Blind, For the Use of Those Who See. Now this work is on view at the Musée d’art de Joliette, along with an intriguing survey of works by Montreal painter François Lacasse.
Megumi Sasaki: How Herb & Dorothy Began
Join Megumi Sasaki, director of the documentary film Herb and Dorothy, and Ann Webb, executive director of the Canadian Art Foundation, as they discuss what inspired Megumi’s interest in the story of the Vogels, two middle-class collectors who accumulated one of the most important contemporary art collections in America.
Bertram Brooker: A Beautiful Hypothesis
Well before Marshall McLuhan investigated theories of mass media, Bertram Brooker took a more spiritual spin on the theme in art, film and advertising. Evidence of Brooker’s strangely prescient oeuvre is now on view at the Art Gallery of Windsor.
Edward Burtynsky: Beauty and the Beast
Photographer Edward Burtynsky is widely regarded as a master of the industrial sublime for his powerful and ironically poetic images of the devastated landscapes and de-humanized environments of modern industry. Now with global economies tumbling alongside increased worries of climate change and disappearing energy resources, Burtynsky's critical perspective has never been more prescient, a fact made crystal clear in exhibitions of his work currently on view in Montreal, Banff and Surrey.
How Soon Is Now: BC’s Biennale
Last year’s Quebec Triennial reminded viewers of the energy and diversity of its regional art scene. “How Soon Is Now” at the Vancouver Art Gallery promises a similar foray for British Columbia–based artists, positioning energetic west-coast production in a global sphere.
Nicolas Baier & Valérie Blass: Pas de Deux
MOCCA pairs the first Toronto solo show by rising Quebec star Valérie Blass with a travelling survey of fellow Montrealer Nicolas Baier. The combination promises forceful evidence of a burgeoning Belle Province art scene.
Symposium Report: We, Ourselves and Us
With Obama in the White House, and confidence holding in the Canadian parliament, it’s timely to discuss the intersecting possibilities of community and history. So it was at “We, Ourselves and Us,” a recent symposium on themes of community featuring talks by Simon Critchley, Maria Lind, Nina Möntmann and others.
Pierre Dorion: Abstraction, Gymnastics and Memory
Many of Montreal painter Pierre Dorion’s works deal with loss and memory in the age of AIDS. But at the same time, his paintings have also engaged formal concerns like colour and scale. Now, in a new show, he shows his aim for abstraction is true.
Daniel Borins & Jennifer Marman: Another New American Century
Forged passports. A sci-fi Pietà. And paintings that fall off their canvases. These selected works by Daniel Borins and Jennifer Marman demonstrate that to them, art is never quite what it seems. Now a survey and a commercial show elaborate their enigmatic oeuvre.
Assume Nothing: New Social Practice
Featuring a light bar, a collaborative play and a kiosk for sex workers as artworks, “Assume Nothing” at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria offers a fresh perspective on the social function of art in contemporary urban landscapes.