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”
Shannon Oksanen: Soft Summerlanding
In her new exhibition “Summerland,” Shannon Oksanen riffs on 1960s fluff and fun in the form of Elvis, water-skiing and Viva Las Vegas. It’s fun, but also funereal, revealing the dream life of a more innocent society as it fades into dimmer, dustier history.
Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak: Youth, as Tasted by the Young
In an age when polls rule politics and stats vanquish sensibility, it’s heartening to consider Lisa Steele and Kim Tomczak’s 25-year investigation of our plural—and deeply felt—social histories. In a new exhibit, this prizewinning duo shows their artistic aim is true.
Christian Marclay: Super Sonic Rendezvous
Digital enthusiasts and iPod devotees may scoff at vinyl record aficionados. Yet popular New York– and London-based artist Christian Marclay, whose touring survey opens this week in Montreal, proves that retro audio still comes fully loaded with fantastic sonic potential.
Jennifer Murphy: Cut and Paste
Since she graduated from Queen’s University a decade ago, artist Jennifer Murphy has been gradually charming gallery-goers with her playful but well-weighed collage works. Now, like a magical pop-up book, her work is pushing the strategy into three dimensions.
Gwen MacGregor and Sandra Rechico: Reorienting the new Mercer Union
Toronto art fixture Mercer Union recently relocated from the glamour of Queen West to the down-at-the-heels streets of Bloor and Lansdowne. In this video slideshow, artists Sandra Rechico and Gwen MacGregor join curator Dan Adler to discuss its reopening show, which riffs, quite appropriately, on the geographies of relocation.
Trade Secrets: Swapping Curatorial Confidences
The past decade has seen tons of interest in the ways that architecture affects our experience of art. But what about the invisible conceptual architectures—that is, the theories and practices of curating—that affect our experience of art regardless of starchitect-led renos? Leah Sandals reports on a recent Banff Centre conference dedicated to discovering the meaning of curatorial life.
Robert Polidori: Treat of Versailles
The Montreal-born Robert Polidori is one of the world’s leading architectural photographers. In this slideshow video, Canadian Art editor Richard Rhodes considers Polidori’s Toronto exhibition “Versailles: Transitional States” at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery.
Hot Buttons: To Be or Not to Be?
The legacy and future of artist-run culture in Canada was on the agenda at this past weekend’s Hot Buttons conference in Ottawa. Even if the conference’s most promising panels also proved to be its most unresolved, there's still good reason to believe ARCs can break from the predictable—just as they originally did four decades ago.
Shari Hatt: Clowning Around
Having taken on such diverse subjects as celebrity dogs, Liberace’s closet and circus sideshows, Halifax
Iain Baxter&: Ampersand, Mon Amour
It’s rare to find a non-editor who feels passionately for punctuation. Yet key Canadian artist Iain Baxter& remains obsessed with the ampersand, which he sees as symbolizing collaboration. In new installation works (and an adjustment to his legal last name) Baxter& continues to mine his witty semiotic flair.